In Malaysia, where a similar lockdown comes into force on March 18, the securities regulator said all capital markets will operate as usual. China had delayed the resumption of work, including stock market trade, after the Lunar New Year break. Renzo Louie Candano, analyst at DBP-Daiwa Capital Markets in Manila, said it would give investors time to evaluate whether the sell-off is warranted. "With markets closed, it would be puzzling how additional government bonds would be issued and received by markets," said Ken Peng, head of Asia investment strategy at Citi Private Bank. The Philippines benchmark index fell 8% on Monday and is down 20% for March so far, already its worst month since October 2008, while bond prices have also collapsed.

Source: bd News24 March 17, 2020 06:45 UTC