In the wake of fast spread of coronavirus across the globe, the Philippine Stock Exchange has suspended trading starting Tuesday to ensure the safety of employees and traders.
The closure is part of a broader one-month quarantine that President Rodrigo Duterte announced on the main island of Luzon.
The quarantine involves the shutting down of transport networks and limiting business operations.
The country has reported 142 confirmed coronavirus cases so far, according to its Department of Health.
In a bulletin publicized at 7:44 pm on Monday, the Department of Health (DOH) confirmed a 63-year-old man (Patient 141) and a 50-year-old man (Patient 142) tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
“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.
AdMacro research head Patrick Perret-Green had also raised the prospect in a note issued over the weekend, before the Philippines move.
The Philippine benchmark index fell by 7.91 per cent at Monday’s close.