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Philippine Markets Cut Trading Hours Amid Manila Lockdown

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a month-long lockdown of Metro Manila, a region with more than 12 million people.

Philippine Markets Cut Trading Hours Amid Manila Lockdown
Bells stand under an electronic board displaying stock figures on the trading floor of the Philippine Stock Exchange in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) Metro Manila, the Philippines. (Photographer: Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Trading of Philippine stocks, peso and bonds will be shortened as the government implements a lockdown of the capital region to contain the coronavirus outbreak amid a spike in cases.

The stock exchange will end trading at 1 p.m. local time from March 16 to April 14, instead of the regular 3:30 p.m. closing, according to a memo on its website. Foreign exchange and fixed income markets trading will also be shortened from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m starting March 17 “until further notice,” the Bankers Association of the Philippines said.

Philippine Markets Cut Trading Hours Amid Manila Lockdown

The Philippines’ benchmark stock index fell 7.9% on Monday to its lowest level since October 2012. The peso closed 0.9% lower, extending its fall for the fourth straight session.

As work resumed Monday, long queues of vehicles formed at border checkpoints, with workers from nearby areas trying to enter the capital, local media reports showed. People crowded jeepneys and stood close to each other while waiting for trains and buses after government imposed passenger limits for social distancing.

President Rodrigo Duterte will meet with Cabinet officials later Monday and will announce more measures against the spread of the virus, his spokesman Salvador Panelo said at a briefing. Imposing a total lockdown and extending the ban to include areas near the capital will be considered, Panelo said.

At least six cities are imposing a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. and ordered malls to shut except for outlets of banks, drugstores, health clinics, supermarkets and hardware stores. Mass gatherings, concerts and even casinos are also banned.

The government is working to speed up the delivery of farm goods to the capital to ensure adequate food supply during the lockdown, the Agriculture Department said in a statement Sunday.

Duterte ordered a month-long lockdown of Metro Manila, a region with more than 12 million people, restricting domestic travel in and out of the area and told government offices to function through a skeleton force. The move to contain the virus will come at a cost to an economy that draws more than half of its output from the capital and adjacent provinces.

The number of confirmed infections has climbed to 140, with deaths rising to 12, according to the latest data from the health department.

The capital region accounts for about 40% of the nation’s gross domestic product, a figure that rises to nearly two-thirds if you include the surrounding areas, according to Manila-based ING Groep NV economist Nicholas Mapa who expects growth this quarter to weaken to less than 6%.

The central bank will allow lenders to extend due dates and restructure loans of borrowers affected by the coronavirus, Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier said on Sunday. These items won’t be part of banks’ bad loans data until March 2021.

--With assistance from Clarissa Batino, Siegfrid Alegado, Karl Lester M. Yap and Andreo Calonzo.

To contact the reporters on this story: Claire Jiao in Manila at cjiao5@bloomberg.net;Ditas Lopez in Manila at dlopez55@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecilia Yap at cyap19@bloomberg.net, Clarissa Batino

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.