MANILA, Philippines -- The peso fell to an 11-month low against the US dollar, nearly touching the P46-mark, in morning trade on Tuesday as jitters over oil prices and the European economy caused global investors to shy away from emerging market currencies and other assets.

"We are mindful of how the relative strength of the dollar versus the peso could impact peso prices of imported inputs to production, including oil and other non-oil commodity prices," Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said.

The peso opened at P45.70 and hit an intra-day low of P45.99 in the morning, its weakest level so far since touching P46.52 on Sept. 18 last year. It closed at P45.995 Tuesday.

The peso and most other Asian currencies were also dragged down by the US dollar's sustained recovery against the euro, which was stoked by fears of a slowdown in the euro zone or the unified European market.

Volume during the first half of trading on Tuesday was heavy -- $618 million against the $629.31 million turnover on Friday -- partly reflecting pent-up demand after the long weekend break.

"It's due to risk aversion. There's no good news," said Export Bank treasurer Benjo Arcinas.

Jonathan Ravelas, chief strategist at Banco de Oro Universal Bank, said the market was concerned about high oil prices and how these would bloat the import expenditures of the Philippines, a net oil importer.

After P46:$1, Ravelas said the next barrier to the US dollar's strengthening against the peso would be at P46.50.

Last year, Tetangco said the peso's appreciation (by nearly 19 percent against the US dollar) helped temper inflation as it helped bring down the cost of imports.

"Currency appreciation helps but under our inflation-targeting framework, this is not the primary tool for meeting the inflation target. We don't target an exchange rate nor go against any underlying market trend," Tetangco said.

"We are present in the market only to help contain excessive volatilities in the exchange rate which could cause disruptions in effective business planning," Tetangco said.

This year, the peso has fallen by over 9.0 percent against the greenback, making it among the worst performing currencies in Asia.