The Philippine peso fell to a record low on Wednesday, nearing 62 to the US dollar as lingering tensions in the Middle East and uncertainty over the path of US interest rates strengthened the greenback.

The local currency weakened to an intraday low of 61.995 during morning trading before paring losses to close at 61.815, down 3 centavos from its previous finish.

The intraday low surpassed the previous record of 61.85 set on July 24. Trading volume rose to nearly $1.9 billion from $1.3 billion in the previous session.