BENGALURU: The Philippine peso gained after the central bank delivered an outsized interest rate hike on Thursday, but later gave up those gains and drifted back towards a record low as sticky inflation and slowing growth remained key concerns.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas raised its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 5.50 percent, delivering a larger-than-expected increase and marking its fourth consecutive rate hike.
The peso rose as far as 63.309 per dollar immediately after the rate hike before reversing course later in the day. It was last quoted at 63.40 per dollar, not far from its record low of 63.438 hit on Wednesday.
The currency has plunged nearly 10 percent since the beginning of the Middle East war, which sparked a rally in oil prices.
Shares in Manila fell further after the rate decision and were last down 1.1 percent.
Among other equity markets, Indonesia climbed 0.9 percent and were on track for a third consecutive session of gains.
The rupiah has depreciated nearly 0.5 percent over the past two days, last seen at 18,040 per dollar. It has fallen about 8 percent this year, heading for its worst performance since 2022.
MSCI’s emerging Asia equities index fell 2.5 percent to its lowest in nearly 3 months, weighed down by a 3.5 percent drop in South Korea’s KOSPI and a 1.8 percent decline in Taiwan’s benchmark index.
The South Korean won has gained nearly 15 percent in the second half of the year so far.
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