THE PESO weakened anew against the dollar on Tuesday as geopolitical uncertainties in Europe arose.
The local unit ended Tuesday’s session at P52.64 versus the greenback, down 15 centavos from the P52.49-per-dollar finish on Monday.
The peso traded weaker the whole day, opening the session lower at P52.55 against the dollar. It slipped to a trough of P52.67, while its intraday high stood at P52.51 versus the greenback.
Dollars traded rose to $712.05 million from $637.4 million on Monday.
Traders interviewed Tuesday, May 29, said the peso depreciated due to “geopolitical uncertainties in the Eurozone, particularly in Italy and Spain.”
“If you look at what happened globally, there have been political tensions in Italy and Spain. Because of this, the rate of the peso moved [lower],” a trader said in a phone interview on Tuesday.
However, the trader noted that the peso received some support intraday as oil prices declined.
“On the other side of it, the oil prices moved lower. This gave a little bit of support to some Asian currencies which were hit hard because oil prices are moving higher,” the trader said. “We got a little bit of reprieve from that because OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) is expected to boost supplies going forward.”
For Wednesday, May 30, the first trader sees the peso moving between P52.40 and P52.70 versus the dollar, while the other gave a slightly slimmer P52.60-P52.75 forecast range.
“The local currency might weaken further tomorrow ahead of likely upbeat inflation and GDP (gross domestic product) growth data from the US,” the second trader said on Tuesday. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal
