The Mexican currency closed Wednesday’s session at 16.8870 pesos per U.S. dollar, strengthening to its best level since December 2015, according to the central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) and experts.
The Mexican peso in its 48-hour interbank value oscillated during the session between 16.8990 and 16.8170 pesos against the U.S. currency, according to Banxico.
In a separate report, Grupo Financiero Monex highlighted that the Mexican currency has accumulated an appreciation of 13.4 percent so far in 2023.
This places the Mexican peso as the second currency with the greatest gains against the dollar, only behind the Colombian peso, Monex indicated.
The next level to be surpassed for the Mexican peso is 16.63 pesos per dollar, according to the Mexican firm’s models.
For her part, the director of economic analysis at Banco Base, Gabriela Siller, said that the peso’s appreciation in Wednesday’s session was in line with the gains in the rest of the financial markets, following the publication of the US inflation data.
“The above, boosted the idea that the Federal Reserve (Fed) may be close to concluding its interest rate hike cycle and this weakened the U.S. dollar by 0.94 percent, according to the weighted index,” the expert explained.
Siller indicated that the exchange rate has shown a “very particular” behavior since July of last year, with appreciations of approximately 7 percent in a period of two months, followed by periods of rebound of around 4 percent.
If this same performance continues, the exchange rate could reach a low of 16.74 pesos per dollar this summer (boreal), he said.
The Mexican currency, one of the most liquid among emerging markets, began 2023 trading at 19.48 pesos per dollar, according to Banxico’s interbank records.