Peso falls on dollar purchases after Israel rejects ceasefire

By means of Aaron Michael C. Sy, News reporter

The PHILIPPINE peso weakened on Tuesday on safe-haven buying of the dollar, amid escalating tensions between Israel and Hamas.

It lost 0.1 centavo to close at P57.221 against the dollar, according to data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines posted on its website.

The peso opened at P57.27 against the dollar, strengthened to P57.21 and weakened to as much as P57.29.

Dollars exchanged rose to $1.17 billion from $1.04 billion on Monday.

“The peso weakened somewhat on a safe haven reaction following reports that Israel had rejected a ceasefire deal with Hamas,” one trader said in an email.

Palestinian militant group Hamas on Monday agreed to a ceasefire proposal in Gaza from mediators, but Israel said the terms did not meet its demands and pressed ahead with attacks in Rafah as it planned to resume negotiations to pursue a deal, Reuters reported.

The developments in the seven-month war came as Israeli forces attacked Rafah on Gaza’s southern edge from the air and ground and ordered residents to leave parts of the city, which has been a refuge for more than a million displaced Palestinians.

Hamas said in a statement that its chief, Ismail Haniyeh, informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that the group had accepted their ceasefire proposal.Ffury.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later said the ceasefire proposal did not meet Israel’s demands, but Israel would send a delegation to meet negotiators to try to reach an agreement.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said its delegation would go to Cairo on Tuesday to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

The peso was also dragged by a light pick-up truckFsaid Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., in a Viber message.

Inflation accelerated for the third month in a row from 3.7% in March to 3.8% in April. A year ago this was 6.6%.

April inFInflation was within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 3.5-4.3% forecast and below the 4.1% average estimate of 16 analysts in a Business poll from last week.

The trader expects the peso to recover on Wednesday on optimism ahead of the first quarter Philippine economic growth report

The trader sees the peso moving between P57.05 and P57.30 per dollar, while Mr. Ricafort expects this ranges from P57.10 to P57.30.