The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is reverting to half day trading starting this Friday for the rest of January amid the resurgence in COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant.
In an advisory on Tuesday, PSE president Ramon Monzon announced that the shortening of trades was in view of the Omicron-driven resurgence in cases. Beyond Jan. 31, he said the bourse would await updates from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on COVID-19 developments and make the appropriate announcement.
The market will open at 9:30 a.m. and close at 1 p.m. starting Jan. 14.
Pre-open will start at 9 a.m., during which trading orders can be filed but there is no actual matching of buyers and sellers yet.
Pre-close, during which stock closing prices are set, will be at 12:45 p.m., with the run-off/trading at last at 12:50 p.m.
Since the hard lockdowns of March 2020, the PSE shortened its trading hours but returned to full-day trading on Dec. 6, 2021 when the government relaxed mobility restrictions in the country.
Many of the traders, however, have already adjusted to shorter trading hours.