MANILA - Philippines shares climbed on Friday but the peso continued to weaken against the US dollar.

Philippine shares rose to 6,217.56 after gaining 152.33 points or 2.51 percent.

Meanwhile, the peso weakened further, closing at P54.985 against the US dollar on Friday from its previous close of P54.7, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed.

Absolute Traders Senior Instructor and Technical Analyst Bonner Dytoc said it could trade lower in the coming weeks.

“We mentioned earlier that P55 in sight by year-end but with the trend now, it looks like it's going to be P55 by the month’s end,” he said.

In a separate interview, Moody’s Investor Service Sovereign Risk Group Senior Vice President Christian De Guzman said they expect the peso to hover within the P54 to P55 level or weaken further until the US Federal Reserve is done with its aggressive rate hikes to tame inflation.

But several economists have noted that there is another side to the weaker peso, including a more competitive export market and business process outsourcing sector as well a robust remittance numbers.

• BPOs seen to benefit from weakening peso, says analyst
• Economist Solita Monsod says depreciating peso to boost exports, benefit OFWs
• Are OFWs happy that their dollars can now fetch more pesos?

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