Peso Regains Strength vs. USD

The Philippine peso recovered against the greenback Wednesday buoyed by profit-taking on back of the US dollar’s recent rally.

It ended the day at PhP46.95 after dropping to its six-year low of PhP47.26 Tuesday.

A trader noted that amidst the positive performance of the local unit during the day foreign selling was evident, thus, affecting the strong recovery of the peso.

The local unit’s close for the day did not show at the start when it opened at PhP47.23 from day-ago’s PhP47.20.

Its closing level is the local unit’s strongest for the day while weakest stood at PhP47.24.

This brought the day’s average to PhP47.13, an improvement from the PhP47.21 a day ago.

Volume of trade amounted to US$ 753.7 million, a tad lower than the previous trading day’s US$ 768.6 million.

For Thursday, the currency pair is seen to trade between PhP46.90 and PhP47.10.

Meanwhile, an economist of banking giant HSBC projects the general weakening of the local unit in the near term given the looming interest rate normalization in the US.

HSBC economist Joseph Incalcaterra, in a briefing Wednesday, said he expects the local currency to end the year at PhP47.10 level as the Federal Reserve is widely anticipated to start its tightening moves by the end of the year.

He, on the other hand, pointed out that the peso’s weakness is not unique since its the theme in the region.

He added that the country’s fundamentals remain strong and will remain to be a solid support for the local unit. (PNA) LGI/JSV/EDS