The peso rallied after hitting a near 11-year low of P51.08 to finish at P50.98 against the US dollar on Friday.

Volume reached $690.10 million against $692.55 million at the Philippine Dealing System. The peso hit P51.05$1 on August 29, 2006

The peso was trading at P51.027 towards noon before finishing the afternoon session at P50.981.

Jonas Ravelas, chief market strategist of Banco de Oro, said in a phone interview with Daily Manila Shimbun the peso's fall is a knee-jerk reaction to "geopolitical concerns" about North Korea.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index went down as low as 84.20 in early trading before it rallied to close 37.82 points lower to 7,928.43. In the broader market, there were 144 decliners, 54 gainers and 52 unchanged.

Volume reached two billion shares worth P5.5 billion. Foreigners were net buyers with P2.66 billion worth of stocks brought compared to P2.41 billion sold.

Among most active shares, Security Bank gained 3.28 percent to P252 and SM Investments Corp. rose 0.06 percent to P829.50. DMS