Monsoon rains, floods halt forex, stock trading

STOCK and foreign exchange trading were suspended on Wednesday as heavy rain and floods brought by a typhoon-enhanced southwest monsoon led to the cancellation of classes and the closure of most government offices in Metro Manila.

In a Facebook post, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said that trading in the US dollar and Philippine peso, as well as monetary operations, would be halted for the day.

The central bank said that it would continue to accept bulk cash deposits up to three in the afternoon and service bulk cash withdrawals until 4 p.m.

PhilPaSSplus, the BSP peso real time gross settlement system, will be operational up to 5:45 p.m.

The Philippine Stock Exchange also posted on Facebook that there would be no trading for the day.

The peso weakened, but the stock market rebounded a day earlier as investors took in policy pronouncements made by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his State of the Nation Address on Monday.

The stock market closed 0.61 percent higher, or by 41.07 points, to 6,753.12, while the peso slipped by 5-and-a-half centavos to P58.435 against the dollar.