THE peso rebounded against the dollar on Friday following the release of weaker-than-expected December inflation data.
The peso ended the week at P52.51 against the dollar, against its P52.65 finish on Thursday.
The peso was stronger the entire day, opening the session at P52.62 per dollar. It went to as low as P52.63 before closing the trading to its best showing for the day.
Volume thinned to $684.95 million from $797.5 million the previous day.
Foreign exchange traders attributed the strengthening of the peso to the December inflation data.
Prices of basic goods and services continued to ease for a second month in December at 5.1% as growth in food and transportation prices slowed.
December inflation was lower than the 6% recorded in the previous month, and was below the 5.7% consensus estimate in a BusinessWorld poll as well as the 5.2-6% forecast band of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
“The peso appreciated today following the release of softer-than-expected Philippine inflation data,” a trader said in an e-mail.
Meanwhile, another trader said the peso was kept at around the P52.50 level by offers from the offshore market.
“We also saw some flows for the Philippine index, so we saw the equity index trading higher,” she added.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index closed the session at 7,761.11, up 80.51 points, on turnover of P8.39 billion. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

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