(Eagle News) — The Philippine peso dropped to its lowest value in almost 13 years as it breached the P54 to a dollar on Wednesday, Sept. 12, settling at P54.13 after the day’s trading session.
This as the country’s trade deficit further widened to $22.49 billion at the end of the first seven months.
The P54.13 to a dollar was only less than almost three centavos lower than the record low of P54.155 set on Dec. 2, 2005.
Trading volume on the foreign exchange market was at $772.5 million.
The peso even reached as low as P54.14 to a dollar, and just recovered slightly at the end of the trading session.
In Asia, Tokyo stocks also ended lower on Wednesday as investors locked in profits a day after the benchmark index rose 1.30 percent.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.27 percent or 60.08 points to close at 22,604.61, while the broader Topix index fell 0.45 percent or 7.59 points at 1,691.32.
The Japanese indices followed Wall Street to rise marginally at the open but quickly dropped back into negative territory.
The dollar fetched 111.53 yen in Asian trade, against 111.57 yen in New York late Tuesday.
In Tokyo, Sony was up 0.26 percent at 6,352 yen and game giant Nintendo rose 0.48 percent to 39,340. (with a report from Agence France Presse)
