The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is set to reopen for business on Thursday, March 19, but all trading activities will be done offsite.
In a memorandum posted on Tuesday night, the PSE said the trading floor will be closed to trading participants. This is in line with a government directive to avoid mass gatherings as part of measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
“Trading activities by all trading participants will have to be conducted remotely through offsite locations,” the PSE said.
The stock market will open at 930 a.m. and close at 1.p.m.
The reopening of the stock market suggests that the PSE was able to obtain exemption from the month-long Luzon-wide community quarantine that requires the lockdown of most private establishments, except those providing basic necessities.
The local bourse will follow the earlier-announced shortened trading schedule.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno tweeted on Tuesday night that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) had granted the local stock and bond trading platforms exemption from the enhanced quarantine measures “after they assured the authorities that necessary safeguards to ensure the safety of their employees and the community they interact with, are in place.”