The Philippine peso closed at P53.73 against the US dollar for a 12-year low even as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas announced "strong and immediate action" to stop the currency's fall.

It was the lowest close for the currency since it finished at P53.76 on December 9, 2005. The peso began skidding after the government announced that August inflation hit a nine-year high of 6.4 percent.

On Thursday, the peso finished at P53.80. At the Bankers Association of the Philippines' foreign exchange platform, the previously reported low of P54.66 against the greenback was corrected, with the new low set at P53.975.

Volume reached $956.9 million from Thursday's $911.5 million.

In a statement, BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla said the central bank " will take strong immediate action using the full range of instruments in order to respond to the emerging threats to inflation and inflation expectations."

Espenilla said the central bank is reactivating tools like the Currency Risk Protection Program "which will be made available to eligible corporates with foreign exchange obligations based on more liberalized rules."

The Philippine Stock Exchange index pared its losses to end at 7,598.64, down 40.07 points. Volume reached 646.75 million shares worth P6.29 billion from Thursday's 1.17 billion shares valued at P6.71 billion.

Foreigners were net sellers, with selling at P3.58 billion and buying at P2.15 billion. This brought net foreign selling past one billion pesos for the third trading day. DMS