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THE
Philippine peso fell by the most in almost two weeks on
speculation foreign funds will add to sales of the
nation’s stocks on slowing economic growth and higher
interest rates.
From
Friday’s close of P44.35, the local currency opened
lower at P44.45 per dollar then rose to P44.33 and
dipped to P44.60 during Monday’s before closing down to
P44.60. The total volume of trading reached $823.7
million.
The peso
is the second-worst performing Asian currency outside
Japan in June as overseas investors sold more Philippine
shares than they bought every day this month except
four. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Sunday
lowered its economic-growth estimate this year for the
Philippines to 5.2 percent.
“Most
equities in the region have gone down, including ours,
and this is adding pressure to the peso,” said Rafael
Algarra, a treasurer at Security Bank Corp.
The
Philippine benchmark stock index fell to its lowest
since October 2006, heading for its biggest monthly
decline in six years.
The IMF
cited slowing global growth and accelerating inflation
for lowering its estimate from a previous 5.8 percent.
Central bank Governor Amando Tetangco said policymakers
are ready to raise borrowing costs further to cool
inflation.
Seven-year government bonds advanced the most since
November 2006, pushing yields to the lowest in more than
a week.
The
yield on the 8.375 percent note due May 2015 fell 32
basis points to 9.10 percent, according to the 11:15
a.m. fixing at Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. The
price rose P1.58, or P158 per P10,000 face amount, to
96.36. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
The
government’s cost of one-year borrowing fell for a third
straight auction today. It sold 6 billion pesos ($134
million) of 364-day Treasury bills at an average yield
of 6.703 percent. (Bloomberg) |
