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The Philippine peso appreciated against the US dollar on Monday, following positive developments on trade talks between China and the United States.

The local currency gained 0.5 centavos to close at P50.635:$1 from P50.64:$1 on Friday.

“The (Philippine peso) posted slight gains as the market was on risk-on tone coming from positive developments on US-China trade talks,” a foreign exchange trader from a local bank said.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said over the weekend a deal with China was “totally done,” notwithstanding some needed revisions, Reuters said in a report.

The ‘phase one’ agreement came ahead of the December 15 deadline that would have implemented a new round of US tariffs on almost $160 billion of Chinese imports.

Moving forward, the trader said the market will be awaiting the details of the phase one deal between the world’s two biggest economies.

“The 17-month-old trade dispute has roiled financial markets and taken a toll on world economic growth,” the Reuters report said. —VDS, GMA News

This article Peso firms up on US-China trade developments was originally published in GMA News Online.