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THE PESO plunged against the dollar for a fourth consecutive session on Thursday and hit a fresh three-week low amid US President Donald J. Trump’s flip-flopping statements on the fate of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell.

The local unit closed at P57.29 per dollar, sinking by 20.5 centavos from its P57.085 finish on Wednesday, Bankers Association of the Philippines data showed.

This was its worst finish in more than three weeks or since it closed at P57.58 on June 23.

The peso opened Thursday’s session slightly stronger at P57.05 against the dollar and climbed to its intraday best of P56.95. However, it failed to hold on to its early gains as it ended closer to its intraday low of P57.30 against the greenback.

Dollars traded rose to $1.93 billion on Thursday from $1.58 billion on Wednesday.

“The dollar-peso closed higher after President Trump denied news that he will fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, which revived market confidence in the US central bank’s independence,” a trader said in a phone interview.

The dollar was broadly stronger on Thursday as investors assessed Mr. Trump’s latest comments on Mr. Powell’s future, Reuters reported.

The dollar firmed 0.44% against the euro, bringing it largely back to where it had been before a spike late on Wednesday on investor worries that removing the Fed chief before his term ends in May 2026 would undermine faith in the US financial system.

Mr. Trump said Wednesday he is not planning to fire Mr. Powell, but he kept the door open to the possibility and renewed his criticism of the central bank chief for not lowering interest rates.

Mr. Trump has railed against Mr. Powell for months for not easing rates, which he says should be at 1% or lower. Bloomberg reported that the president is likely to fire Mr. Powell soon, and a source told Reuters that Mr. Trump polled some Republican lawmakers on firing Mr. Powell and received a positive response. Mr. Trump said that the reports were not true.

“I don’t rule out anything, but I think it’s highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud,” Mr. Trump said, a reference to recent White House and Republican lawmaker criticism of cost overruns in the $2.5-billion renovation of the Fed’s historic headquarters in Washington.

Lingering concerns over the Trump administration’s tariff policies and its possible effect on the Fed’s easing cycle continued to weigh on global markets, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort added in a Viber message

For Friday, the trader said the peso could move from P57 and P57.50 per dollar “as market players await development on central bank-related news as well as trade-related headlines.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Ricafort said the local unit could trade from P56.15 to P57.40. — A.M.C. Sy with Reuters