Peso remains at 12-year-low ahead of vital central bank meeting

June 19, 2018

The peso gained some ground on Tuesday, a day before the central bank's policy-setting meeting as it ended at P53.44 against the US dollar, up four centavos from Monday's close.

Volume reached $773.7 million from Monday's $568 million.

But the Philippine currency is still at a 12-year-low and even as many market watchers say the central bank should raise interest rates for the second time this year, some say there are other tools that it could use.

"If we want to help the peso along, you can reduce liquidity. Adjusting the reserve requirement might take it higher, leaving less money for speculators to play around with," said Ramon Kabigting, research head of Papa Securities, in a TV interview.

The central bank cut the reserve requirement by one percentage point last February 15.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Stock Exchange closed 101.50 points lower to 7,312.61. In the broader market, there were 125 decliners, 70 gainers and 47 shares unchanged.

Volume amounted to 909.2 million worth $6.9 billion. Foreigners were net sellers with P4.62 billion while buying reached P3.75 billion.

Most active shares were led by SM Investment Corp., down 2.22 percent to P879; BDO Unibank, down 2.61 percent to P130.50 and LT Group, down 4.72 percent to P19.02.  DMS