Peso touches P50:$1 level ahead of Fed meet

  By Janine Marie D. Soliman with Reuters
Posted on May 03, 2017
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Finance&title=Peso-touches-P50:$1-level-ahead-of-Fed-meet&id=144585

The peso closed at P49.99 against the dollar yesterday, four centavos weaker than its P49.95 finish on Thursday. The local currency traded broadly weaker on Tuesday, opening the session at P50.10 per dollar, a near one-month low. Its intraday trough was logged at P50.11 versus the greenback, while its peak for the day was at P49.98.Dollars traded slid to $707.55 million yesterday from the $787.9 million that changed hands the previous session.

“The peso depreciated today as a result of increased caution in the market ahead of the US monetary policy meeting,” one trader said in an e-mail on Tuesday. The US central bank started a two-day meeting overnight.

One trader said the peso may play within P49.85 to P50.05 against the dollar today while the other said the pair may move within P49.90 to P50.10.

“The peso might trade sideways, as the impact of weak US economic reports might be balanced by safe-haven buying ahead of the US interest rate decision and perhaps the election France,” a trader said.