The PESO fell again against the dollar on Monday due to the worsening conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The local unit closed at P58.99 per dollar on Monday, weakening 12 centavos from Friday’s P58.87, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed.
The peso opened Monday’s session slightly stronger at P58.85 against the dollar. The intraday record was P58.80, while the worst performance was a record low of P59 against the dollar.
The local unit had closed at the P59 per dollar level on Thursday to match its all-time low on October 17, 2022, before recovering on Friday.
Dollars traded fell from $1.07 billion on Friday to $1.06 billion on Monday.
“The exchange rate between the US dollar and the peso was recently higher amid some geopolitical risks related to the war between Russia and Ukraine since last week over the possible escalation of the conflict,” Rizal Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said Commercial Banking Corp. in a Viber message. .
“Going forward, the performance of the peso would be partly a function of intervention, as has been consistently demonstrated over the past two years, amid the need to better manage inflation and inflation expectations to meet the price stability mandate that also would require stability in the peso exchange. rate,” Mr. Ricafort added.
The peso fell against the dollar on expectations of potentially strong U.S. economic reports due later this week, a trader said in an email. October US personal consumption expenditure figures will be released on November 27 (Wednesday).
For Tuesday, both the trader and Mr. Ricafort expect the peso to range from P58.80 to P59 against the dollar.
“Continued pressure on the dollar and profit takers could keep the local currency sideways,” the trader said.
Russian forces overnight attacked energy infrastructure in the southern Mykolaiv region and industrial facilities in the southeastern Zaporizhiv region, Ukrainian authorities said on Monday, Reuters reported.
Engineers had restored power as of the morning to most consumers who suffered blackouts in the aftermath of the attack, Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim said via messaging app Telegram.
The governor reported no casualties and said air defenses downed two drones over the region.
Russia also launched “dozens of drones” to attack Zaporizhia overnight, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on national television.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Russia has used around 460 drones and more than 20 missiles to attack Ukraine over the past week.
Meanwhile, the dollar gave up a small portion of its recent gains on Monday after the choice of the US Treasury secretary appeared to reassure the bond market and pulled yields lower, wiping out some of the currency’s interest rate advantage.
The yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell to 4.351% from 4.412% late Friday, after President-elect Donald Trump was welcomed by the bond market as an old Wall Street hand and a fiscal conservative for fund manager Scott Bessent.
However, Mr. Bessent is also openly in favor of a strong dollar and has supported tariffs, suggesting any pullback in the currency could be temporary.
The dollar was likely due to some consolidation, as it had risen eight weeks in a row for only the third time this century, and many technical indicators were overbought.
The index was last down 0.5% at 106.950 after hitting a two-year high of 108.090 on Friday. The dollar fell 0.4% against the Japanese yen to 154.11, further away from its recent peak of 156.76. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson of Reuters