Stock exchanges extend holiday till May 5

Both stock exchanges of the country have announced that trading activity will remain closed until May 5 – in line with the government's decision to extend the ongoing shutdown for the fifth time to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic.

There have been calls to keep the stock market open amid the shutdown as the prolonged closure is depriving some investors of liquidating their investments.

But as the securities market ecosystem is not fully prepared to trade and to support work-from-home arrangements, most of the industry leaders back the government decision to keep activities closed.

Kazi Sanaul Hoq, managing director of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), said, "The DSE management and the board decided to keep trading closed until May 5. If the shutdown extends further, we have to decide things through more discussions."

Mamun-Ur-Rashid, managing director of Chattogram Stock Exchange, said the board in the beginning of the shutdown a month ago had decided to keep the bourse closed as long as the government holiday was not over.

Alongside the investors keen to sell securities for cash, the brokerage industry is also suffering because of fixed costs despite no revenue.

Still, most of the leaders are backing the extension of the shutdown as it is helping arrest the deadly pandemic, said Minhaz Mannan Emon, a shareholder director of the capital city bourse.