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THE
Philippine peso gained to the highest in seven years on
speculation global investors bought the nation’s stocks
and overseas workers sent money home.
The
currency had its biggest gain in more than two weeks as
stocks rose to a record following the central bank’s
unexpected interest-rate cut on October 4. The Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) last week said
foreign-exchange reserves exceeded the central bank’s
full-year target of $30 billion in September as funds
abroad bought stocks and Filipinos working overseas sent
money back to their families.
“The
peso keeps on gaining ground on inflows from investment
and the fact that the remittance season has started,’’
said Rafael Algarra, treasurer at Security Bank Corp.
“Last
week’s central-bank rate cut boosted the positive
sentiment of investors in stocks.’’
The
currency, the best performer in the region yesterday,
rose 0.9 percent to P44.355 against the US dollar as of
the 4 p.m. close of trading in Manila, according to
Tullett Prebon Plc, the world’s second-largest
inter-dealer broker. The peso closed at its highest
since the rate of P44.305 on July 10, 2000.
The peso
will probably reach P43 by year-end as Filipinos abroad
send money home to pay for relatives’ education and for
Christmas, Security Bank’s Algarra said.
---Bloomberg |
