Peso ends flat vs dollar

THE PESO ended flat against the dollar yesterday amid the continued lack of market movers abroad and at home.

The local unit finished at P49.87 versus the greenback on Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday’s close.

The peso opened the session weaker at P49.90 per dollar. Its intraday trough was booked at P49.91, while its best showing for the day was at P49.865 versus the foreign unit.

Dollars traded on Thursday went down to $353 million from the $528 million that exchanged hands the previous session.

Traders attributed the flat close to a quiet session as there were zero developments to move local and international markets.

“The market was very quiet, everyone was waiting for better news,” one trader said in a phone interview on Thursday. “But the slight movement that we saw today was probably basic requirements, but as a whole, there was no direction for markets. Although the Japanese yen strengthened, we did not follow.”

“A lot were buying above the P49.90 level form local banks, but I think this is just their anticipation of remittances coming in,” the trader added.

Another trader said: “There was no movement yesterday as market players were waiting for the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’) policy decision, but basically there was no movement from markets.”

For today, one trader said the peso will continue to range at P49.80 to PP49.95 against the dollar while the other said the pair will trade at P49.80 to P50.

One trader said that moving forward, risk-off sentiment will likely persist due to geopolitical risks in the euro area.

Meanwhile, the other trader said the peso may be rangebound depending “on any news from the US. Basically if there’s anything happening on the meeting of [ Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe and [ US President Donald J.] Trump this weekend.”

The Japanese Prime Minister is scheduled to meet the new US leadership on Friday for the USJapan leaders’ summit. •