Bourses to remain closed till April 25

NEWS DESK 

Both bourses of the country, the Dhaka Stock Exchange and the Chittagong Stock Exchange, will remain closed till April 25 in accordance with the extended public holidays declared by the government.

Earlier on March 23, the government declared a 10-day shutdown from March 26 to April 4 in order to curb the spread of coronavirus. It was then extended till April 11, then till April 14, and most recently till April 25. 

This year, the stock market indices were already going through extreme volatility because of a slowdown in exports, concerns over the health of the banking sector, and a turbulent money market.

The novel coronavirus outbreak added to all existing worries in the stock market and triggered a free fall in the past few weeks.

DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka bourse, suffered a 20 percent fall until March 18, but later recovered partially with a 10 percent gain due to the new floor prices.

Before the nationwide shutdown was imposed, the DSEX stood at 4,008 points on March 25.

Bangladesh reported 30 deaths and 482 confirmed Covid-19 infections at the time of writing this report.