Philippine Peso Recovers Early Losses Against Dollar

The Philippine peso, that showed mild weakness against the US dollar during Friday's early Asian trading, regained momentum after a short period of time. The peso thus climbed from 47.5250 to 47.25 by 11:20 pm ET, compared to 47.26 hit late Thursday in New York. The next upside target level for the Philippine currency is seen at 47.06.

A report by the Philippines' National Statistical Office said the total imports dropped 31.6% in July from the previous year compared to the 22.8% fall in the previous month. A year earlier, in July, imports were up 16.7%. Compared to the previous month, imports were down 2%, following the 13.6% rise in July.

Another report by the Philippines National Statistics Office said the volume of production index for the manufacturing sector dropped 15.8% on a yearly basis in July, faster than a 15% fall in the previous month. This was mainly due to decline in production in 18 industries. On a monthly basis, the volume of production grew 1.8%, while the value was up 1.3%.