Par value is a financial term, meaning stated value or face value. From this comes the expressions at par (at the par value), over par (over par value) and under par (under par value). The term "at par" is also used when two currencies are exchanged at equal value (for instance, in 1964, Trinidad and Tobago switched from British West Indies dollar to the new Trinidad and Tobago dollar, and that switch was "at par", meaning that the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago replaced each old dollar with a new). The dollar (ISO 4217 code: TTD; also TT$) is the currency of Trinidad and Tobago. ...

Par value has several meanings depending on the context, whether used in the equities market, or in the bond markets, and partially also dependent on where in the world the par value term is used. A stock market is a market for the trading of publicly held company stock and associated financial instruments (including stock options, convertibles and stock index futures). ... The bond market refers to people and entities involved in buying and selling of bonds and the quantity and prices of those transactions over time. ...

Equities

Par value of an equity (a stock) is a somewhat archaic concept. The par value of a stock was the share price upon initial offering; the company promised not to issue further shares below par value, so investors could be confident that no one else was receiving a more favorable issue price. This was far more important in unregulated equity markets than in the regulated markets that exist today. See stock (disambiguation) for other meanings of the term stock In financial terminology, stock is the capital raised by a corporation, through the issuance and sale of shares. ...

Most common stocks issued today do not have par values; those that do (usually only in jurisdicitons where par values are required by law) have extremely low par values, for example a penny par value on a stock issue at USD$25/share. Common stock, also referred to as common shares, are, as the name implies, the most usual and commonly held form of stock in a corporation. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...

Preferred stock par value remains relevant, and tends to reflect issue price. The dividends are calculated as a percentage of par value. A preferred stock, also known as a preferred share or simply a preferred, is a share of stock carrying additional rights above and beyond those conferred by common stock. ...

Also, par value still matters for a callable common stock: the call price is usually either par value or a small fixed percentage over par value.

In the United States, it is legal to for a corporation to issue "watered" shares below par value. However, the purchasers of "watered" shares incur a liability to the corporation for the difference between the par value and the price they paid. Today, in many jurisdictions, par values are no longer required for common stocks.

Bonds

In the US bond markets, par value is when the price dollars is equal to the face value. A US Treasury note is denominated in units of $1,000, but has its price quoted by common convention in terms of moving the decimal point to the left by one position. A US Treasury note selling at par value would thus be quoted as 100:00, where the two digits to the right of the colon are priced in thirty-seconds of a dollar (i.e., 3.125 cents.) A par value price of 100:00 would thus equate to a price of a note or bond selling at face value of $1000 per US Treasury note. A price of 75:31, on the other hand, would thus equate to a note or bond quoted at a price of (75 + 31/32) x 10, or $759.6875, selling at an obvious discount from its par value of 100:00 for a face value paid upon maturity of the note or bond of $1,000. The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America, the States, or (archaically) Columbia—is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii). ... Treasury Securities are bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, and sold by the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC. They are the debt finance instruments of the Federal government, and are often referred to as treasuries. ... This page is about the dollar currency. ...

Only the market for US Treasury securities still prices using thirty-seconds of a dollar. All other markets use decimal notation.

The practice of pricing in price per hundreds largely grew out of the practice of pricing British government bonds, which were (and still are today) denominated in units of 100 Pounds Sterling. These notes, originally sold in physical form having gilt-edges and therefore known as Gilts, are priced in similar form as US debt instruments, but are priced relative to their face value of 100 pounds Sterling. There is no subsequent shift of the decimal point applied in the pricing of such debt instruments as in the US. In the UK bond markets, par value is when the price per 100 Pounds Sterling note or bond is equal to the face value. A government bond is a bond issued by a national government denominated in the countrys own currency. ... The pound sterling is the official currency of the United Kingdom (UK). ... A gilt is any of the following: A thin covering of gold. ... A gilt is any of the following: A thin covering of gold. ...

A par value of 100.00 for a note or bond means only that the note or bond is selling for the face value paid upon maturity of the note or bond. It can (and does) have different absolute values per Note or Bond depending on the conventions of the particular market and country in which such a par value is quoted.

References

• riskglossary.com has a detailed article on par values.