Peso at '08 low vs $ as oil nears $112/barrel

The peso slid to the years lowest level versus the US dollar on Monday as uncertainties in the financial markets drove investors to held on to their greenbacks, one of the most acceptable currencies in the world, analysts said.
The local currency closed P41.72 to a dollar, lower than Friday's close of P41.54.
Jonathan Ravelas, BDO chief market strategist, said that with the more than 400-point decline in Wall Street on Friday and the local stock market dropping by almost 4 percent, people are looking at the dollars as “safe haven."
High oil prices are also prompting investors to play it safe, he said.
Oil prices jumped to an all-time trading high near $112 a barrel Monday in Asia as the tumbling US dollar and plunging stock markets prompted investors to seek shelter in commodities.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery spiked to a record $111.80 a barrel, up $1.59 from Friday's close, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midafternoon in Singapore. It later slipped back to $111.61 a barrel.
“With what's going on in the markets today, people tend to focus on staying on the sidelines. This is not uncommon, there is a near-term risk aversion," he said.
Throughout the session, the peso traded between P41.60 to P41.72.Total volume traded reached $794.225 million.
Earlier, the 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index plummeted 112.85 points or 3.88 percent to 2,793.68 while the all-share index slid 57.92 points or 3.25 percent to 1,726.52.
Jason Lagrimas, analyst at online stockbrokerage firm 2TradeAsia, said there was no good news to prop up the local equities market."
Basically, the market is reacting to the weakness in Wall Street and other regional markets. Last Friday Dow Jones went down by 194 points, crude oil went up to $110 a barrel and gold is now at $999.8 per ounce.

source: Cheryl Arcibal, GMANews.TV, with AP