THE peso strengthened on Friday as the dollar was undermined by weak jobs data and lower global oil prices.
The peso closed at P52.71 to the dollar on Friday, against its the P52.76 finish Thursday.
The peso was stronger the whole day, opening the session at P52.689. Its intraday peak was P52.60, while the low was P52.73.
Trading volume declined to $973.95 million from $993.25 million on Thursday.
A foreign exchange trader said the peso recovered today after a weak US jobs report.
According to the payrolls processor Automated Data Processing, Inc., the private sector in the US added 179,000 jobs in November, lower than the anticipated 195,000 jobs in a Bloomberg poll.
October employment on the other hand was revised to 225,000 additional jobs, slightly lower than the previous print of 227,000.
The trader also attributed the dollar’s weakness to “heightened US-China trade relations” following the arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Canada, who is also facing extradition to the US.
The arrest of the Chinese executive is expected to undermine the 90-day ceasefire signed by the US and China on Saturday during the G-20 Summit in Argentina.
Michael L. Ricafort, economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said the peso strengthened after The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to to agree on oil production cuts. The bloc is expected to meet again on Friday.
“[This resulted] in lower global oil prices and a weakening of the dollar against major emerging-market currencies including the peso,” Mr. Ricafort said in a text message. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

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