Peso dips slightly to 43.39

MANILA, Philippines—The peso fell slightly on Friday as investors weighed the adverse impact of the lingering crisis in the Euro zone on the global economy and decent growth projections for emerging markets like the Philippines.

The local currency closed at 43.395 against the US dollar, down by 1.5 centavos from Thursday’s finish of 43.38:$1.

Intraday high hit 43.315:$1, while intraday low settled at 43.5:$1. Volume of trade amounted to $1.029 billion from $1.157 billion previously.

Traders said the crisis in the Western region, as well as its consequences such as declines in export earnings of emerging markets like the Philippines, encouraged some foreign fund owners to stay liquid and thus hold on to dollars instead of investing in emerging market assets.

Moreover, the slow recovery of the US economy from the recession in 2009 has cast doubts on the ability of emerging markets to boost their export earnings anytime soon.

However, traders said, investors who are willing to take more risk were attracted to stocks and bonds from emerging Asian economies given their much better performance compared with the Euro zone and the US economies.