Stock market resumes Sunday after 9-day Eid holidays

Trading and official activities on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) will resume tomorrow (Sunday) after a week-long Eid break.

The bourse remained closed for nine days from March 28 to April 5, including weekly holidays and a special holiday on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival of the Muslims.

Trading on the bourses will begin at 10:00am as usual and continue until 2:30pm, including a 10 minutes post-closing session.

Dhaka stocks closed higher on March 27, the last session before the Eid holidays, as investors showed buying interest in selective stocks with short-term growth potential.

The benchmark index of the DSE rose by 4.95 points to settle at 5,219. The turnover, however, dropped 18 per cent to Tk 3.15 billion.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), however, edged lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –losing 16 points to settle at 14,541 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX –shedding 11 points to 8,842 on March 27, the last trading day before Eid holidays.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh stock investors are worried following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs on imports from around the world, including Bangladesh, stoking fears of an escalating trade war and rising recession risks.

Trump on Wednesday slapped a 37 per cent tariff on imports from Bangladesh as part of Trump’s sweeping new “Reciprocal Tariffs” policy against the existing 15 per cent.

Market operators said that the imposition of higher import duties on Bangladeshi products could hurt exports and the profitability of export-oriented listed firms.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has 58 listed garment and textile companies, a large portion of which are export-oriented. Among the 34 listed pharmaceuticals, a few export medicines to the US.

The export-oriented companies will now be affected by the higher import duty, which will hit stock market investors.

Also, global stocks tumbled for a second day on Friday as US’s sweeping tariff plans sowed fears about a global recession, with the sell-off deepening after China said it would impose additional levies of 34 per cent on American goods.

babulfexpress@gmail.com