NEW YORK – While the Chinese currency rate has been a most debated topic among US lawmakers, who often link it to the trade deficit and manufacturing job losses in the US, one factor has not been discussed much seems to have been missing – how the yuan appreciation would affect non-financial, particularly manufacturing companies, or companies which are listed on the world stock markets.

In a recent study on the impact of the revaluation on companies, two economists -- Barry Eichengreen of the University of California, Berkeley and Hui Tong of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- argued that a yuan appreciation might have an overall negative effect on foreign companies.

The authors examined performances in share price of more than 6,000 manufacturing companies from 44 countries during two announcements of the Chinese currency exchange rate, or yuan appreciation, by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) in July 2005 and June 2010, respectively.

China revalued the yuan by 2.1 percent against the dollar in July 2005, and the yuan has appreciated at least 7 percent against the dollar since June 2010.