The peso slid to a new eight-year low against the US dollar while stocks closed mixed after a late rally erased an early deficit on Wednesday.

The peso hit a low of P49. 94 against the greenback before closing at P49.86, one centavo lower than Tuesday’s close. Volume declined to $360 million at the Philippine Dealing System from the previous day’s $520 million.

In an ambush interview with reporters at the Security Bank forum, central bank governor Amando Tetangco said: “We are sticking to our current forex policy of allowing market forces to determines exchange rate.”

"If you look at the movements of Asian region currencies, the peso is basically in the middle of range in terms of both actual movement and deprecation since the beginning of the year and in terms of volatility of exchange rate movements," he said.

In his speech at the same forum, Tetangco said “analysts are putting the possibility of a Fed rate hike in December (as implied by US Fed Funds futures) at over 90 percent.”

Tetangco said Philippine “growth dynamics continue to be convincing, with domestic economic activity seen to remain firm.”.

The Philippine Stock Exchange composite index closed 33.91 points higher to 6,836.64 after being down by close to 81 points at one stage. The broader market was negative. There were 110 issues which declined while 71 issues gained. Thirty-six issues were unchanged. DMS