Daily trading hours at the Philippine Stock Exchange will be extended for the second time in three months from Monday as the bourse prepares for a planned link-up with other Southeast Asian markets later this year. The market will now be open until 3:30 pm [0730 GMT], including a 10-minute run-off to the close, extending trading by two hours. The market open remains at 9:30 am and there will now be a 1-1/2 lunch break from noon.
Trading had been extended by an hour up to 1:00 pm from October 3. Before then, the market was open only for 2-1/2 hours each day. The Philippine bourse, which was closed on Friday, was Asia's best-performing market last year with a 4.1 percent gain.
Indonesia came second with a rise of 3.2 percent and Kuala Lumpur managed to eke out a gain of 0.78 percent. They were the only markets in Asia to gain last year. Stock exchanges in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand delayed a plan to set up electronic trading links last year to attract investment and raise liquidity, saying it would be done in 2012.
Singapore Exchange and Bursa Malaysia will link up in June, followed by Thailand in August. The Philippines will come in at a later date, while Indonesia and two markets in Vietnam will announce their participation pending approval from their regulatory bodies. The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations plans to transform itself into a unified trading bloc with free flow of capital by 2015.
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