Peso up on dollar profit-taking as 2016 closes

The peso rose slightly against the greenback on Thursday, the last trading day of 2016, as investors pocketed gains from the dollar's strength in previous sessions.

The local currency gained 9.5 centavos to close at P49.720:$1 from 49.815 on Wednesday.

"The peso appreciated just because of profit taking. Movements were minimal due to lack of fresh leads," Guian Angelo Dumalagan, market economist at the Land Bank of the Philippines, told GMA News Online.

Financial markets are close on Friday, December 30 (Rizal Day) and Monday, January 2, 2017 as they are non-working holidays.

Week-on-week, the peso gained 5 centavos from P49.770:$1 on December 23. Year-to-date, it shed P2.66 from P47.060 on December 29, 2015.

"Next year, the peso might depreciate beyond the P50:$1 level due to bets of stronger US growth and views of three US rate hikes. The peso might begin to breach 50 level as we near the US presidential inauguration this January," Dumalagan noted.

"Thereafter, the peso's trajectory might depend on the impact of Donald Trump's promised fiscal stimulus on the US economy," he added. —KBK, GMA News