Philippine peso hits 10-year low, Asian currencies sag

Singapore - The peso stayed at its lowest levels in a decade on Wednesday.

The dollar's strength, following hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials, hit the currecies of several countries.
The peso stayed at its lowest levels in a decade on Wednesday.  The peso, which closed at P50.25, weakest since September 2006, on Tuesday. It opened at P50.22 on Wednesday.
The head of the Philippine central bank said the peso's weakness was driven by risk-off sentiment and geopolitical concerns, especially in Europe. 

The governor of the Philippine central bank, Amando Tetangco, said the central bank does not target a specific exchange rate level but is mindful of excessive volatility.
The level of 50.00 per dollar had previously been a key threshold, since the peso had held that level "partly because of official intervention" said Andy Ji, Asian currency strategist for Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"I think the market's been shaken a little bit," Ji said, referring to the peso's fall on Monday.
The peso's drop below the key technical support level appears to have caught some market participants off guard, and is a bearish signal for the peso, he added.
Separately, analysts at Maybank said in a research note that there was some market chatter of selling in 10-year Philippine bonds. 
Rupee drops against dollar, reaches 18.16 vs dirham
The peso had set an eight-year low of 50.00 against the greenback late last November. That came as the dollar rallied after the US presidential elections, buoyed by expectations that Donald Trump's fiscal policy proposals would bolster growth and inflation and prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at a faster pace. 
The drop in the peso came on a day when several other emerging Asian currencies were lower against the dollar, with the Indonesian rupiah slipping 0.2 per cent and the Malaysian ringgit easing 0.1 per cent.
Markets, already nervous over the possibility of a win for far-right, anti-European Union candidate Marine Le Pen, were jolted after two French hard-left candidates late on Friday said they were discussing cooperation in their bid for the country's presidency.
The fear in markets is that a unified left-wing front could cause the centrist vote to shift towards Le Pen.

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