Peso weakens further, closes above 55 to $1

The Philippine peso is back above 55:$1 after four weeks below this threshold, closing at 55.085:$1, its weakest showing against the US dollar since 55.29:$1 last Jan. 12.

On Feb.7, the peso ended the session near the intraday weakest of 55.10:$1 and lost 69.5 centavos from 54.39:$1 the previous trading day.

Michael Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said foreign exchange rate corrected for the second day in favor of the greenback after the Philippine Statistics Authority reported unexpectedly higher inflation rate of 8.7 percent in January, a new 14-year high for the rate of increase in prices of goods and services.

Ricafort said the peso also weakened after the local stock market gauge, the Philippine Stock Exchange Composite Index (PSEi), corrected lower for the second straight day in what he described as a healthy profit-taking.

He added that the PSEi lost 55.35 points or 0.8 percent to close at 6,881.26, which is still near six-month highs.