THE PESO weakened against the dollar on Wednesday, dragged by risk-off sentiment in the market amid concerns of a slowing global economy and ahead of the trade negotiations between the United States and China.
The local unit closed Wednesday session at P52.61 versus the greenback, 16.5 centavos weaker than the P52.445-per-dollar finish on Tuesday.
The peso opened the session weaker at P52.60 versus the dollar, declining to as low as P52.64 intraday. Meanwhile, its best showing stood at P52.54 per greenback.
Trading volume declined to $704.2 million from the $770.05 million that switched hands the previous day.
Traders interviewed yesterday said the peso traded sideways as it consolidated.
“We’re seeing swings in the dollar-peso trading… There were flows that continued to run,” a trader said in phone interview. “After the monetary policy meeting on Thursday, we saw a big sell-down that was due to positioning. Right now, we’re seeing a pickup in a bit in terms of level.”
Meanwhile, another trader said yesterday’s session was “somehow muted” as the pair moved within a tight range.
“We are also seeing market sentiment that the global growth slowing down. That’s they are moving to safe haven currencies such as the yen and the dollar,” the second trader said. “There’s a lot of uncertainties in the market. A lot of central banks in Asia and Europe have projected slower growth of their economies.”
Apart from concerns over the slowing global growth, the second trader added that investors opted to stay on the sidelines ahead of the trade meeting between the US and China later this week.
For today, the second trader expects the peso to move between P52.50 and P52.70, while the other gave a wider P52.50-P52.85 range. — K.A.N. Vidal

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