Foreign exchanges part 3

The pound sterling, Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian dollars as well as other currencies of comparable importance are negotiated on very many marketplaces but only on a more or less continuous basis. As for the other convertible currencies, they are quoted only when the issuing financial market is open. Non-convertible currencies are not subjected to market functioning; their prices are determined by the central bank. When it comes to exchanging Polish zlotys and Turkish pounds, banks may have to trade off zlotys against euros and euros against dollars; the yen may need to be brought into play. That is why the sun never sets on the foreign exchange market; but that is also why there need be several transactions involving a chain of several currencies so that a zloty can be converted into a Turkish pound.
The initial transactions of a given day are registered in Sydney, Australia and Wellington, New Zealand. This is followed by the opening of the markets in Southeast Asia: Tokyo, Hong King, Singapore. Those of the Middle East follow suit. The markets of London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich and less widely renowned European centers of trade take to the task once the Asian markets have closed for the night. They are followed by those in Chicago and Toronto. And when, in their turn, the markets of Los Angeles and San Francisco call it a day, Wellington and Sydney open up yet another day of transactions. Under such conditions the market is continuous and functions non-stop, 24 hours a day. It does so successively on the various financial markets, five days out of seven. During the weekend transactions slow down; only the exchanges of the Arab world are systematically active. The interbank foreign exchange market is thus the first genuinely global or worldwide one.