THE PESO climbed slightly as the dollar continued to decline amid ongoing trade tensions between the US and China.

THE PESO strengthened slightly on Monday as the dollar weakened amid sustained concerns over the trade spat between the United States and China.
The local unit ended Monday’s session at P53.48 versus the greenback, stronger by three centavos from the P53.51-per-dollar finish on Friday.
The peso strengthened immediately Monday, July 23, as it opened the session at P53.41 versus the greenback. It climbed to its intraday high of P53.39, while its worst showing stood at P53.49 against the US currency.
Dollars traded declined to $399.6 million from the $474.05 million that exchanged hands the previous session.
A foreign exchange trader said the peso strengthened slightly as the dollar continued to decline due to ongoing trade tensions between the US and China.
“The dollar-peso opened the session at P53.41 as the dollar continued to slip since last Friday,” the trader said in a phone interview, noting the dollar index traded lower.
Reuters reported that the dollar index was down 0.1% at 94.327, slipping further from a one-year high of 95.656 touched on July 19, on the back of the remarks made by US President Donald J. Trump.
In an interview with CNBC aired on Friday, Mr. Trump said he was ready to slap tariffs on all Chinese imports worth $500 billion, escalating trade policy tensions.
Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at UnionBank of the Philippines, said the weakness of the dollar may have come from lingering concerns over the impact of the trade war.
“This weakness may have come from the perception on the impact of the trade war on the world economy with major players calling out the US for restraint and urging talks to resolve issues,” Mr. Asuncion said in a text message.
Meanwhile, another foreign exchange trader attributed the slight strengthening of the peso to the remarks made by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) of a possible interest rate hike at its monetary policy meeting next month.
“The peso strengthened following the hawkish tone of the BSP last Friday,” the trader said.
“Let me say that the BSP is considering strong follow-through monetary adjustment at the next meeting of the Monetary Board in August,” BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. said in a speech on Friday.
For today, the first trader expects the peso to move between P53.40 and P53.55 versus the dollar, while the other trader as well as Mr. Asuncion gave a P53.40-P53.60 forecast range. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

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