Peso remains at 12-year-lows despite rate hike

June 21, 2018

The Philippine peso remained at 12-year-lows against the US dollar Thursday despite the second straight monthly of rate hikes by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The peso hit a low of P53.50 before steadying itself to end at P53.46 from Wednesday's P53.48. Volume rose to $860.95 million from the previous day's $650 million.

The Monetary Board, the BSP's policy-making body, raised the overnight reverse repurchase rates by 25 basis points to boost the peso on Wednesday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index fell through the support level of 7,200 points and lost a little over two percent.

The index settled at 7,098 points, down 163.47 points. In the broader market, there were 166 decliners, 36 gainers and 41 issues unchanged.

Volume reached 1.9 billion shares worth P7.9 billion from Wednesday's 1.7 billion shares valued at P5.3 billion.Foreigners were net sellers with P5.4 billion sold and P3.14 billion worth of stocks were bought.

Most active shares were led by Ayala Land, down 3.14 percent to P37.05; SM Prime, down 1.64 percent to P32.90 and Jollibee, down 3.23 percent to P270. DMS