Peso weakens to near 12-year low before closing at P52.34:$1

February 19, 2018

The peso weakened to a near 12-year-old on Monday in reaction to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' one percentage point reduction in the reserve requirement to 19 percent.

The Philippine currency weakened to a low of P52.45 against the US dollar from Thursday's P52 before it rallied to close at P52.34.

Volume at the Philippine Dealing System surged to $1.025 billion from the previous' $578.50 million.

The central bank said Friday "in deciding to reduce the reserve requirement ratios, the Monetary Board reaffirms the BSP’s commitment to gradually lessen its reliance on reserve requirements for managing liquidity in the financial system."

"The Monetary Board believes that the BSP has attained sufficient progress in its shift towards the use of market-based monetary instruments since the adoption of the interest rate corridor (IRC) framework in June 2016," the central bank added.

Trading in its new home at the Bonifacio Global City, the Philippine Stock Exchange index surged in early transaction, then lost ground but managed to close higher.

The index ended at 8,710.22, up 97.78. In the broader market, there were 141 gainers, 65 decliners and 44 unchanged.

Volume climbed to 7.3 billion valued at P9.6 billion from Thursday's 2.13 billion worth P10.69 billion. Foreigners were net buyers after 15 straight sessions as buying reaching P3.91 billion compared with selling of P3.86 billion.

Most active shares were led by Now Corp., down 19.17 percent to P11.30; PXP Energy Corp., up 17.53 percent to P14.48; BDO Unibank, up 3.79 percent to P156 and BPI, up 3.67 percent to P124.40. DMS