MANILA, March 31 (PNA) — The peso closed sideways to a dollar Monday on profit-taking due mainly to strengthening of regional bourses.
It closed P0.06 better after finishing at 44.81 from 44.88 Friday last week.
“There was regional rally during the day because of fading U.S. dollar strength,” a trader told PNA in an interview.
The trader said foreign-related equity flows to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) were strong boosting not only the domestic stock market but also the local currency.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 1.09 percent or 69.09 points to end the trading at 6,428.71 points.
All counters registered gains tracking the main index.
Volume of trade reached 1.23 billion amounting to P9.98 billion with advancers leading the outliers at 95 to 59 while 50 were unchanged.
The positive trading of the regional bourse helped buoy the peso after it opened at 44.80 from 44.99 in the trading at the end of last week.
It traded between 44.86 and 44.75 bringing the day’s average to 44.81.
Volume of trade reached US$ 605.9 million.
The trader forecasts the peso to trade between 44.70 and 45.00 to a dollar Tuesday.
The trader said reports on the U.S. manufacturing data and non-farm payroll that will be released during the week will impact on the currency trading among others. (PNA)