Peso steady on news of rising US consumption

MANILA, Philippines—The peso moved sideways on Tuesday, tempering the sharp depreciation on Monday, as expectations of rising consumption in the United States eased concerns that emerging Asian economies like the Philippines would continue to suffer from anemic exports in 2012.

The local currency closed at 42.66 against the US dollar, down by a mere 0.5 centavos from the previous day’s finish of 42.655:$1.

Intraday high hit 42.52:$1, while intraday low settled at 42.67:$1. Volume of trade amounted to $1.15 billion from $810 million previously.

The ability of the Greek government to gather sufficient number of holders of Greek sovereign bonds to agree on debt restructuring has eased concerns over the debt woes of the eurozone. Meanwhile, the improving employment figures in the United States has elicited hopes the world’s largest economy would be up for a faster recovery in 2012, thereby giving room for the global economy to accelerate growth, traders said.

Nonetheless, market players also said that projections of a slowdown of China this year and its rising trade deficit, as well as expectations that the eurozone problem would take long to fully resolve, have been somewhat dampening investor sentiment.