Philippine Peso touches 46 level vs. US dollar

The peso strengthened against the US dollar Friday and touched the 46 level on reports of positive growth forecast of International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the Philippines this year and some bleak US economic data.

The unit improved by P0.15 after it closed at 47.1 against the US currency from Thursday’s 47.05 closing. This after it reached a high of P46.99 by mid-trade amid its weakest trading level of 47.21 during the day.

This brought the day’s average to 47.06 from day-ago’s 47.14. Total volume of trace reached P695.5 million, lower than the P1.1 billion Thursday. Traders said investors noted that reversal in the IMF 2009 growth forecast for the country.

IMF on Thursday announced that it now projects the domestic economy to growth by one percent this year from its earlier projection of a one percent contraction due primarily to the continued resiliency of remittances from overseas Filipinos.

Traders also said the expected increase of unemployment rate in the US is a disadvantage to the US currency.

The US Labor Department is set to release its September 2009 unemployment data Friday and analysts expects it to reach 10 percent, which has not happened since June 1983.

Traders project the local unit to register its high end at 47.50 next week.