THE PESO weakened against the dollar to hit a fresh 12-year low due to continuous corporate demand for the dollar as well as the negative statement of US President Donald J. Trump against the European Union (EU).
The local unit ended Monday’s session at P53.53 versus the greenback, two centavos weaker than the P53.51-per-dollar finish on Friday.
This is a fresh low for the peso as this is its weakest finish in nearly 12 years since it closed at P53.55 against the greenback on June 29, 2006.
The peso strengthened slightly as it opened the session at P53.50, which was already its best showing for the day. Its intraday low meanwhile stood at P53.54 versus the US currency.
Dollars traded declined to $290.75 million from the $397 million that switched hands the previous session.
A foreign exchange trader said the peso just moved sideways against the dollar.
“The dollar-peso barely moved [on Monday] as it traded within a very tight range,” the trader said in a phone interview.
The trader added the peso had some support as “there is still a lot of flows in terms of companies buying dollars,” particularly oil firms.
“But on the top side, it seems that there are still offers at P53.55. It’s capping the range for now,” the trader added.
Meanwhile, another trader said the peso slipped versus its US counterpart following a “negative” statement by Mr. Trump versus the European bloc.
“The peso depreciated to another new 12-year low following the recent negative trade remarks by US President Donald Trump to the European Union which drove renewed safe-haven buying towards the dollar,” the trader said in an e-mail.
In an interview with CBS’s aired on Sunday, Mr. Trump said the EU is a “foe” of the United States for what the European bloc does to them in terms of trade.
“Well I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now you wouldn’t think of the European Union but they’re a foe,” Mr. Trump said in the “Face the Nation” news program.
For Tuesday, the first trader sees the peso moving between P53.30 and P53.55 against the dollar, while the other gave a P53.40-P53.60 forecast range.
“The peso might recover [on Tuesday] amid expectations of weaker US retail sales data which might indicate possible slowdown in American consumer spending,” the second trader noted. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

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