THE PESO strengthened against the dollar on Friday as investors turned cautious ahead of the release of US non-farm payrolls data.

The local unit closed at P50.16 against the greenback on Friday, eleven centavos more than its P50.27-per-dollar finish on Thursday.

The local currency opened the session stronger at P50.20 per dollar. It dropped to as low as P50.23, while its best showing for the day was at P50.14 versus the greenback.

Dollars traded grew to $631.3 million on Friday from the $505.5 million recorded the previous trading day.

One trader said the peso strengthened as markets repositioned ahead of the release of US jobs data due later on Friday and following the weaker-than-expected US Institute of Supply Management (ISM) non-manufacturing report.

“The peso further strengthened due to weaker-than-expected US ISM non-manufacturing data and caution ahead of the US non-farm payrolls report,” Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) market economist Guian Angelo S. Dumalagan said in an email.

One trader also attributed the peso’s climb to dollar inflows.

Another trader said the peso’s rise was in line with the movement of regional currencies that have strengthened versus the dollar in the past few days.

“It look as for the past trading sessions this week, the peso is playing catch-up… If you compare the performance of the peso against other Asian currencies…the peso is very weak compared to the region so now it’s playing catch-up,” a trader said in a separate phone interview. — EJCT

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