Peso may rise before US PCE

The peso may strengthen against the dollar this week ahead of the release of June US personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index data on Friday and as markets digest comments from US Federal Reserve officials.

The local unit closed at PHP 58.335 per dollar on Friday, weakening by 8.5 centavos from its PHP 58.25 finish on Thursday, Bankers Association of the Philippines data showed.

Still, week on week, the peso rose by 4.5 centavos from its PHP 58.38-per-dollar finish on July 12.

The peso declined on Friday amid broad dollar strength and higher US Treasury yields, Security Bank Corp. Chief Economist Robert Dan J. Roces said in a Viber message.

The dollar rose against other major currencies on Friday amid mixed signals from Fed officials, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort added in a Viber message.

For this week, the peso may remain range-bound with an upward bias ahead of the release of June PCE data on July 26 (Friday), which could affect the Fed’s policy path, Mr. Roces said.

June’s PCE price index is expected to have climbed 0.1% on a monthly basis, according to a Reuters poll.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ricafort expects the peso to move between PHP 58.25 to PHP 58.45 per dollar on Monday. — AMCS