MANILA, December 27 ------ After again touching its record low last week, the Philippine peso bounced back to the 57-to-the-dollar level at the end of Thursday's trading. The peso closed at 57.97 according to the website of the Bankers Association of the Philippines. This was barely a week after the local currency again fell to its historic low of 59 to the dollar on Dec. 20.
Analysts had been expecting the peso to recover some of its value with the seasonal surge in remittances from overseas Filipinos in time for the Christmas holidays. The local currency has been on a roller coaster since the start of the year, when it opened at P55.45 to the dollar. It fell to its historic low several times this year as the US Federal Reserve held off on interest rate cuts or announced a slower pace of monetary easing amid mixed signals on the strength of the US economy.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas however has said that the peso's depreciation wasn't due its weakness but the relative strength of the dollar, which appreciated against most other currencies. Meanwhile, the Philippine Stock Exchange closed flat, up just 0.06 percent at 6,539. The PSE has also seen big swings this year, with the main index breaching the 7,500 level which was the highest since the pandemic lockdowns. But the PSEi was later pulled back down to the 6,500 level as concerns about lackluster growth and slower monetary easing dampened investor enthusiasm.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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