Peso appreciates slightly on US-China trade talk developments

The Philippine peso closed almost unchanged -- albeit slightly stronger than the US dollar -- on Monday, following positive developments regarding trade talks between China and the United States.

The local currency gained a centavo to close at P51.57:$1 versus last Friday's P51.58:$1.

"The peso sustained its level against the greenback on the back of risk-on tone coming from positive developments in the US-China trade negotiations," Robert Dan Roces, AVP and economist at Security Bank Corp., said in an email interview.

The world's two biggest economies last week agreed to the first phase of a trade deal, covering agricultural purchases, currency, and some aspects of intellectual property protections, effectively averting a threatened tariff hike.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said President Donald Trump agreed not to proceed with a hike in tariffs to 30% on about $250 billion in Chinese goods, which was supposed to take effect later this week. — RSJ, GMA News