The Philippine Stock Exchange closed indefinitely on Tuesday while currency and bond trading were suspended, the first market shutdowns worldwide in response to the coronavirus, with authorities citing risks to the safety of traders.
The shutdown comes after some bourses around the world closed trading floors or paused trade after withering falls in market value, but it is the first blanket market halt.
AdMacro research head Patrick Perret-Green had also raised the possibility in a note issued over the weekend, before the Philippines move.
The Philippine Stock Exchange said trade was suspended until further notice “to ensure the safety of employees and traders,” amid a broader national lockdown.
And while it was done for health reasons, amid a broad lockdown in the Philippines, it raises the prospect other exchanges may follow and has drawn analysts’ attention.
“Given the unprecedented speed of the slump in equity prices, it has been suggested that stock exchanges might be closed soon if things don’t turn around,” research house Capital Economics said in a note on Tuesday.
National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon cited the lockdown as the reason for the suspension of fixed income trade. Currency trading is to resume on March 18.
Kuwait’s exchange has suspended trade at least twice this month, after daily falls of more than 10%, while in Indonesia, Jakarta’s bourse has introduced new circuit breakers which halt trading for half an hour if the main index falls 5%.
Capital Economics, however, said closures are ineffective at salving investor sentiment. The consultancy expects as in the Philippines health reasons to be invoked should other bourses shut.
“On the rare occasions when stock markets have been shut in the U.S. in the past, it has usually only been for practical reasons, such as after 9/11, rather than as means of trying to restore confidence might not work in any case.
