Peso weakens vs dollar ahead of US PPI data

THE PESO weakened against the dollar on Thursday as players repositioned before the release of July US producer inflation data overnight.

- Aaron Michael C. Sy with Reuters

The local unit closed at P56.945 per dollar, dropping by 22.5 centavos from its P56.72 finish on Wednesday, Bankers Association of the Philippines data showed.

The peso opened the session a tad stronger at P56.70 against the dollar. It climbed to as high as P56.61, while its worst showing was at P56.995 against the greenback.

Dollars exchanged rose to $1.87 billion on Thursday from $1.63 billion on Wednesday.

“The dollar-peso initially fell to lows of P56.61 on dovish Fed bets but later reached highs of P56.955 on profit taking and trimming of positions ahead of US PPI (producer price index) data,” a trader said in a phone interview.

The US dollar rose slightly against other major currencies on Thursday, but stayed close to multi-week lows as bets that the Federal Reserve will resume cutting interest rates next month ticked higher, Reuters reported.