By Joann Santiago
MANILA, (PNA) — The Philippine peso was hurt by the general strengthening of the US dollar in Asia Friday on lower jobless claims in the world’s largest economy last week.
It closed P0.09 weaker than the greenback from Thursday’s 43.25 finish.
It opened a tad better at 43.28 from day-ago’s 43.30.
Strongest trade for the day stood at 43.24 while weakest was at 43.35 bringing the average for the day at 43.30, way better than the 43.35 Thursday.
Volume of trade reached US$ 861.18 million, slightly higher than the US$ 757.7 million in the previous day.
The US Labor Department reported Friday the 5,000 decline in joblessness claims to a seasonally adjusted 305,000.
A trader interviewed by the PNA said the positive development in US’ labor sector “points to a tapering.”
“But the Fed is still waiting for some more data before it finally decides on the stimulus program,” the trader said.
Markets around the globe have widely expected the Federal Reserve to reduce its US$ 85 billion monthly bond purchases when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) held its policy meeting this month.
However, the FOMC decided to maintain the Fed’s key rates as well as the stimulus program citing that recent positive developments in the US are not enough to decrease the monthly bond purchases.
The FOMC will have its next policy meeting in October and some traders still expect a tapering announcement during that meeting.
The trader expects the peso to trade between 43.20 and 43.50 next week.