The peso sustained its rise to close at a new 45-month high against the US dollar and inched closer to the 47-per-dollar boundary.
It settled at 48.575 against the greenback on Wednesday, up from 48.625 a dollar on the previous trading session. It was the local currency’s strongest finish since closing at 48.48 a dollar on Nov. 4, 2016.
Analysts said the strength of the peso was driven by the continued lack of demand for the greenback. Astro del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Finance Inc., a finance and investment company, said the peso was not the only currency in the Asian region that continued to exhibit strength against the US dollar.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said in a virtual briefing last week that the peso was the most appreciated currency in Asia because of the significant inflows of dollars in the country and the robust gross international reserves which reached $98 billion as of end-July 2020.