Peso softens on corporate demand for the dollar

The Philippine peso softened against the US dollar on Tuesday, with the greenback buoyed by corporate demand.

The local currency shed 4.5 centavos to close Tuesday at P52.080:$1 from Monday's close of P52.035.

"We saw a lot of corporate demand so we traded higher today... We closed at the high today on suspected corporate demand," a foreign exchange trader from a local bank said in a phone interview.

"Corporate needs dollars -- importers, oil companies -- to pay dollar debts," the trader said.

For the rest of the week, the trader said the market will be looking at the latest inflation figures.

"With inflation going higher, it will be bad for the currency," the trader said.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), inflation is expected to settle within the 3.8- to 4.6-percent range in March. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/RSJ, GMA News