THE peso declined further against the dollar on Friday, following reports of delays in a meeting between US President Donald J. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The peso ended the week at P52.65 against the dollar, five centavos weaker after closing at P52.60 on Thursday.
The peso opened the session weaker at P52.64, slipping to as low as P52.75 intraday. The high was P52.62.
Trading volume thinned to $976.4 million from the $1.202 billion in the previous session.
A foreign exchange trader said the peso weakened as investors sought safer currencies such as the dollar amid fears of a possible delay to a US-China trade deal.
The proposed meeting of Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi has been pushed to April at the earliest, Bloomberg reported.
US and China are looking to push the meeting of their leaders to a later date of at least April for a possible trade deal, Bloomberg reported.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he is not rushing to strike a trade deal with China, adding that it should include protection of intellectual property.
Prior to the news, the leaders were supposed to meet in Mar-a-Lago, Florida later this month.
President Donald J. Trump postponed its plan to impose $200 million in tariffs on Chinese goods “indefinitely,” which was originally scheduled on March 1, citing “substantial progress.”
Michael L. Ricafort, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. economist, said the delay in the meeting between the US and Chinese leaders “partly caused slightly higher dollar against major currencies.”
“Prospects of slower global economic growth and trade that could have an adverse impact on some Asian and emerging markets,” Mr. Ricafort said in a text message.

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