When you are thinking about sending money abroad, an international money transfer provider is a great option. They can help you with the whole process, provide useful online tools and most importantly bank-beating exchange rates and low or zero fees.
| Foreign Transfer Providers Ratings & Reviews | Receive HKD($) | Exchange Rate | Fee AUD | Total Cost | Transfer Services | Transfer Speed | Deal Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  OFX exchange rates are highly competitive for global money transfers, great customer service. ^Zero transfer fees for BestExchangeRates customers. More info▾ | 54,872 HKD Best Overall | 5.4872 | 0^ | 1.38% | Bank Transfers - Online & Phone, Foreign Currency Accounts | 1-2 days | |
 TorFX provide no fee transfers with good exchange rates and excellent customer service. More info▾ | 54,817 HKD 55 HKD | 5.4817 | 0 | 1.48% | Bank Transfers - Online & Phone | 1-2 days | |
Banks - Average Rate         Average rate from selected banks. Click icons for each bank's costs. More info▾ | 53,125 HKD 1,747 HKD | 5.3230 | 15 | 4.52% | Online, Branch, Bank Transfers | 2-3 days |
This is a chart showing the change in the AUD-HKD mid-market exchange rate over the last week. The Total Cost of each foreign transfer in the above table is calculated as the sum of all fees and the exchange rate margin, which is the difference between the provider's exchange rate and the mid-market AUD-HKD exchange rate.
Whenever you are interested in an exchange rate you are actually interested in two currencies due to the fact that the value of a currency must always be quoted in comparison to a second currency.
So it follows that if you are determining the best time to transact, in this case the AUD vs HKD, you should pay attention to both Australian Dollar and Hong Kong Dollar news and forecasts.
Following a flash crash in early January, which saw the Australian dollar briefly trade at a 10-year low of $0.674, the Aussie recovered to $0.73, but then, as it had done before the flash crash, it commenced with a slow and steady decline, and it was back at $0.705 in mid-March and was predicted to fall further.
In February, HSBC predicted a year-end AUD/USD rate of $0.66. In March, Westpac and JP Morgan were slightly more upbeat and argued for $0.68.
Fuelling lower exchange rate forecasts is the Australian economic story, for which major themes include a housing market slump, Chinese growth and the US-China trade spat. The RBA slashed growth forecasts in February and markets are now pricing in 1-2 interest rate cuts this year.
Another Aussie exchange rate worth mentioning is AUD/GBP, which sank in mid-March to its lowest level in nearly 3 years, at just £0.53. The Australian dollar has been unable to compete with the pound of late, since the latter benefits every time the British government fails to make a decision on how to deliver Brexit (every time Brexit appears less likely or to be delayed).
Against a basket of currencies, on the last day of February, the Hong Kong dollar was flat on the year; however, it was worth 9 percent more than its lowest level from 2018. An increase of 1.7 percent would have HKD trading at its highest level in nearly two years.
Notable HKD exchange rates in late February included GBP/HKD and CNY/HKD, which rose to 7-month highs (HKD lows) of 10.479 and 1.175, and HKD/JPY, which rose to a 2-month high of 14.2.
HKD rallied strongly between May and November of last year, but has stuttered since December following dovish developments on US monetary policy, which Hong Kong's central bank follows in order to maintain the USD/HKD currency peg. In December, the Fed lowered its expectations for 2019 interest rate hikes due to so-called “cross currents” (the global economy, Brexit and trade tensions).
In early 2019, analysts were downbeat on HKD’s prospects.
“A slowdown in the US economy is likely to weigh on USD [and therefore HKD] in the second half of this year,” CIBC researchers said.
Of the same opinion was ING, which argued that USD, and therefore HKD, would soon “embark on a gradual long-term bearish trend.”
