Peso Weakens on PHL Trade Deficit

The Philippine peso traded on a weak note for the third successive day on Tuesday as a wider merchandise trade deficit prompted investors to bet on the greenback.

The local currency lost 19.5 centavos to close at P51.440:$1 from 51.245 on Monday.

“We saw the peso weaken against the dollar, this could be on the deficit in trade balance. Investors reacted to that data, which is wider than the previous year,” a foreign exchange trader from a local bank told GMA News Online.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier reported that the country’s balance of trade in goods posted a wider deficit of $2.41 billion in August from $2.13 billion a year earlier.

“With this, we saw continued buying of the dollar,” the trader said. — VDS, GMA News

(Source: GMAnetwork.com)