THE PESO rebounded on Wednesday after two straight days of decline on the back of profit taking and amid positive sentiment in other Asian markets.
The local unit finished trading at P50.54 against the greenback, strengthening by 10.5 centavos from its P50.645-per-dollar close on Tuesday, according to data from the website of the Bankers’ Association of the Philippines.
The peso opened at P50.63 versus the dollar. Its weakest showing for the day was at P50.65 while its strongest level was at P50.52 against the greenback.
Dollars traded inched up to $998.3 million from $933.9 million on Tuesday.
A trader said the local unit’s strength came on the back of profit taking from investors.
“The peso strengthened from cautious profit taking ahead of the release of US Federal Reserve policy meeting minutes overnight,” the trader said in an e-mail.
Meanwhile, another trader attributed the peso’s gains to better stock performance in Asian markets.
“The peso followed ’yung (the) gains from Asian markets pati na rin sa (and also in the) local stock market natin,” the second trader said in a phone call.
Reuters reported that Asian shares as well as US stock futures inched up on Wednesday, with investors going beyond their worries about the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan recovered from a shaky start to rise 0.4%. Chinese shares erased early declines to trade 0.6% higher.
At home, the Philippine Stock Exchange index inched up by 74.05 points or by 1.01% to end at 7,396.94 on Wednesday, while the broader all shares index rose by 21.11 points or by 0.48% to end at 4,362.09.
The National Health Commission of China reported on Wednesday that 1,749 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed on Tuesday, down by the 1,886 cases seen on Monday and the lowest since Jan. 29.
For today, the first trader gave a forecast range of P50.50-P50.70 versus the dollar, while the second trader sees the peso playing around a wider margin from P50.45 to P50.80. — L.W.T. Noble with Reuters
