The Philippine peso breached the 62-per-dollar level for the first time on Friday, closing at a fresh record low as investors digested the latest policy signals from the central bank following its third interest rate hike of the year.
The peso closed at 62.265 per dollar, down 37.7 centavos from Thursday’s close and surpassing its previous all-time low of 61.888 recorded last Thursday.
The local currency opened at 62.05 and touched an intraday high of 62.00 before weakening to an intraday low of 62.27, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed.
Trading volume rose about 9.6% to $1.96 billion from $1.79 billion on Thursday.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas raised its benchmark reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 5% last Thursday, its third such increase this year, bringing total rate hikes since the resumption of its tightening cycle to 75 basis points.
The central bank has been raising rates to anchor inflation expectations.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said the peso’s decline was tempered by signals that the BSP was intervening in the foreign exchange market and smoothing volatility.
He said the peso’s next resistance level was at 62.50 per dollar, while support was seen at 61 to 62 per dollar.
