Peso inches lower amid cautious trade
THE PESO moved sideways as it traded within a tight range yesterday with the market staying on the sidelines, anticipating central bank developments overseas.
The local unit closed at P50.66 apiece against the greenback on Monday, slightly weaker than the P50.65-per-dollar finish on Friday, based on data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines.
The peso opened the session at P50.60 to a dollar. Its weakest point for the day was at P50.69, while its strongest was at P50.575 against the greenback.
Total volume traded yesterday dropped to $884.8 million from $1.12 billion posted on Friday.
A trader yesterday said the market stayed on the sidelines ahead of minutes of the US Federal Reserve鈥檚 latest meeting that will be released on Wednesday, as shown in the 鈥渜uiet鈥 and low trading volume.
鈥淭here will be central bank minutes that will be released on Wednesday, then on Thursday, the ECB (European Central Bank) speech鈥 With that said, we just traded a very tight range,鈥 the trader said in a phone call.
The trader added that the market is awaiting the first time new ECB President Christine Lagarde will discuss the euro zone鈥檚 policy direction given economic conditions in the bloc.
Meanwhile, another trader said the local unit weakened yesterday with 鈥渢he release of upbeat US retail sales report last Friday鈥 indicating the 鈥渙ngoing strength of US consumer spending.鈥
The traders said the peso may decline further ahead of US data.
鈥淭he local currency might continue depreciating from dollar bargain-hunting and expectations of upbeat US housing data releases,鈥 the trader said in an email.
The first trader expect the peso trade slightly higher on Tuesday or within the P50.55-P50.75 range on the lack of fresh leads. For the second trader, the local unit will likely move in the P50.60-50.80 range. 鈥 BML
