Suppose we are calculating the 2016 calendar year return, and that the portfolio is empty until a transfer in of EUR 1m cash in a non-interest bearing account on Friday 30 December. By the end of the day on Saturday 31 December 2016, the exchange rate between euros and Hong Kong dollars has changed from 8.1 HKD per EUR to 8.181, which is a 1 percent increase in value, measured in Hong Kong dollar terms, so the right answer to the question of what is the return in Hong Kong dollars is intuitively 1 percent.