NEW YORK - While the Chinese currency rate has been a major topic of debate 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 - that appreciation of the yuan would affect non-financial and particularly manufacturing companies listed on the international 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 Tong Hui, of the International Monetary Fund - argued that yuan appreciation might have an overall negative effect on foreign companies.

The authors examined the performance of share prices of more than 6,000 manufacturing companies from 44 countries in response to two instances of yuan appreciation announced by the People's Bank of China, in July 2005 and June 2010.