Peso firms week-on-week after Fitch raises outlook
THE peso weakened to P50.56 to the dollar on Friday, though it rode positive sentiment to strengthen week-on-week after a sovereign credit outlook upgrade by Fitch Ratings to “positive” from “stable.”
The peso fell from its Thursday close of P50.50 but rose from P50.755 a week earlier.
It opened yesterday at P50.47 against the dollar, with a low of P50.58 and a high of P50.42.
Dollar volumes fell to $831.5 million from $1.106 billion Thursday.
A trader said the Friday weakness was due to “stronger-than-expected US inflation reports overnight.”
Reuters reported that growth in the US consumer price index (CPI) accelerated to 0.2% in January from 0.1% in December.
Asked about the week-on-week gains, another trader said the peso rose “driven by the Fitch’ announcement of an outlook (upgrade from) positive to stable… along with the narrowing trade deficit,”
Fitch announced the upgrade Tuesday, saying it expects the Philippines’ sound macroeconomic policy framework to continue, bolstering growth and keeping inflation stable.
Fitch kept the credit rating at “BBB.”
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the trade deficit narrowed to $37.05 billion last year compared to the $43.53-billion deficit in 2018.
