Philippines traders shrug off mid-month jitters from Covid shutdown

Emerging markets foreign exchange traders breathed a sigh of relief in mid-March, after fears of a prolonged absence of the Philippines peso non-deliverable forward (NDF) fixing proved to be unfounded.

On the evening of March 16, the Philippines announced an extension of movement restrictions to combat Covid-19. A lack of clarity about its application to workers in the financial industry meant the equity, currency and bond markets did not open on March 17.

While most attention was focused on