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Peso improves to 50-level vs. USD, PSEi recovers

By Joann Villanueva

September 7, 2017, 8:23 pm

MANILA -- The Philippine peso closed better at 50-level against the greenback on Thursday while the main stocks gauge recovered as risk-on sentiment rose anew.

The peso finished the trade at 50.93 from 51.095 a day ago, which BDO chief market strategist

Jonathan Ravelas traced to weakness of the US dollar.

"It (the dollar weakness) helped push the peso below the 51.00 levels today," he said.

Ravelas attributed this development to the resignation of US Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fisher, who is set to retire as Fed vice chair in June 2018 and as member of the Fed's Board of Governors in January 2020.

Other factors leading to the peso's strength during the day included concerns about  North Korea and the unexpected increase in Canada's interest rate.

"Market players are also monitoring the category 5 hurricane Irma bound for Florida," Ravelas said.

The BDO chief market strategist expects the peso to trade between 50.70 and 50.80 "in the near term.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told reporters that the currency pair is just recoveing lost grounds from some few years back.

"It's just a matter of normalizing," he said, noting that the local currency is just making up from past years' volatility.

The local currency's latest close was near its 50.795 finish last August 10.

For the day, the peso opened at 51.00, up from its 51.14 start in the previous session.

It traded between its opening level and 50.93, resulting in an average of 51.02.

Volume for the day reached USD613.8 million, up from the USD468.8 million a day ago.

A day after it tumbled, the Philippine Stocks Exchange index (PSEi) gained 0.49 percent, or 39.01 points, to 8,022.98 points.

The broader All Shares rose 0.50 percent, or 23.63 points, to 4,762.84 points.

The sectors were led by the Mining and Oil, which rose 1.66 percent, and followed by the Services, 1.14 percent; Industrial, 0.83 percent; Property, 0.55 percent; Financials, 0.27 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.13 percent.

Volume reached 1.75 billion shares amounting to PHP7.566 billion.

Gainers led losers at 114 to 77 while 55 shares were unchanged. (PNA)

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