For instance a share of BP Oil stock is $66.68. If you convert that into British Pounds it should be 33.88 pounds. However, one share of BP Oil stock is worth 563 pounds, not 33.88. In Euro's, one share is worth 8.35. I obtained these prices off of the BP.com website. I've noticed that this is not unique to BP but is true of all stocks that are traded in multiple currencies. Are the shares of stock that I own in dollars worth less than the shares that are valued in pounds?
BP has different issues of stocks trading on different exchanges... that is the only difference i can see.... they may have 100million shares out on the New York exchange and only 16.45 million on the London..thus you are buying a different "share" of ownership depending on the exchange it was purchased on...... so the per share*shares outstanding would equal the same market cap (cost to acquire the entire company) even after currency exchanges are accounted for ..
otherwise the discrepance is too great to account for. |
