THE PESO appreciated versus the greenback on Friday as more vaccines arrived in the country.
The local unit closed at P49.95 per dollar on Friday, gaining two centavos from its P49.97 finish on Thursday, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed.
However, it depreciated by 8.5 centavos from its P49.865-a-dollar finish a week earlier.
The peso opened at P50.04 against the dollar on Friday. Its weakest showing was at P50.05, while its intraday best was at P49.86 versus the greenback.
Dollars traded slumped to $871.75 million on Friday from $1.273 billion on Thursday.
The peso strengthened as more vaccine doses arrived in the Philippines, boosting prospects for herd immunity and economic recovery, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said.
Additional 661,200 doses made by AstraZeneca Plc arrived in the Philippines on Friday morning. They were procured by the private sector through the national government.
The Philippines has already received over 58.2 million doses of coronavirus vaccines since February.
Meanwhile, a trader said the peso appreciated on the back of profit-taking ahead of the US consumer sentiment report expected to be released on Friday night.