Peso strengthens on US stimulus

December 29 ------ The Philippine peso continued to strengthen against the greenback on Monday, following the signing of the stimulus bill in the United States. The local currency gained 1.5 centavos to close at P48.055:$1 from last Wednesday's finish of P48.07:$1. There was no trading on Thursday and Friday, December 24 and 25, both holidays. Earlier on Monday, US President Donald Trump — who leaves office on January 20 — was reported to have signed into law a $2.3-trillion pandemic aid and spending package which seeks to restore unemployment benefits and averts a partial federal government shutdown.

"The peso strengthened after US President Trump finally signed the US stimulus bill which was recently endorsed by the US Congress despite his preference for $1,200 individual stimulus checks," Guian Angelo Dumalagan, market economist at the Land Bank of the Philippines, said in an email exchange. There will only be one more trading day for the year — Tuesday, December 29, as trading will be suspended from Wednesday to Friday, December 30 to January 1, which were earlier declared holidays by Malacañang.

Source: gmanetwork.com