Peso weakens anew amid rising tensions in US, China, Russia

THE PESO weakened anew against the dollar on Thursday as it traded within range due to continued geopolitical tensions abroad.

The local currency ended yesterday’s trading session at P52.03 against the greenback, 9.5 centavos weaker than its P51.945-per-dollar finish on Wednesday.

The peso traded weaker the whole day, opening the session at P51.99. It slipped to as low as P52.05 while its intraday high stood at P51.97, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed.

Dollars traded rose to $627.2 million from the $583.6 million that switched hands in the previous session.

A trader said that the pair continued to trade within the usual range of P51.90 and P52.10.

“There’s not much movement… We just saw a [downward movement], but we are still trading in a tight range,” the trader said in a phone interview.

“We’re still seeing where the next direction will be despite the fact that we’re getting a lot of geopolitical tensions that happened and is happening for the past week or so.”

Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at UnionBank of the Philippines, said the “slight weakening might have been due to the continuing threat in the Middle East.”

President Donald J. Trump announced on Twitter about a possible military action in Syria following a suspected chemical attack in the war-torn country, saying that missiles “will be coming” and that Russia “should get ready.”

“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!” Mr. Trump said in a tweet.

White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said all options are still on the table and Mr. Trump was assessing how to respond, Reuters reported.

“Trump’s tweet about possible response or a military action in Syria also contributed to a movement in oil prices, so that has been the market reaction so far,” the trader said. “But we don’t know if that is going to happen.”

For today, the trader still sees the peso moving between P51.90 and P52.10 versus the dollar, while Mr. Asuncion gave a higher range of P52 to P52.30.