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Stocks witnessed high volatility after three hours of trading on Monday following coronavirus vaccine import uncertainty news as India banned to export vaccine for few months.
India will not allow the export of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for several months, the head of Serum Institute of India, which has been contracted to make 1.0 billion doses of the vaccine for developing nations, including Bangladesh.
SII Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla said in an interview after the shot was approved for emergency use that exports might be possible after supplying the Indian government with an initial 100 million doses.
That means Bangladesh may wait for a few more months to get the vaccine which prompted investors for selling-offs.
After the previous day’s biggest-single day spike in 12 months riding on news of the approval of Covid-19 vaccine in India which faded away to some extent.
However, Bangladesh has an opportunity to get an exemption from the export ban imposed by India according to the agreement signed by Beximco Pharmaceuticals with the Serum Institute of India, officials said.
Although DSEX rose more than 54 points within first 30 minutes of trading, the risk-averse investors rushed for selling shares to book profit on major sector stocks after the news spread on the trading floor.
After three hours of trading, DSEX fell more than 13 points while the CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) of port city’s bourse lost 42 points at 1:00 pm when the report was filed.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 13.88 points or 0.24 per cent to stand 5,605 points.
The share prices of Beximco Pharmaceuticals dropped by 5.58 per cent after three hours of trading on Monday after India banned the export of Oxford’s coronavirus vaccine.
On November 5, 2020, Bangladesh government signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India’s Serum Institute and Beximco Pharmaceuticals to purchase 30 million doses of the vaccine.
Two other indices also saw a downward trend till then. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, lost advanced 16.49 points to reach 2,062 points and the Shariah Index (DSES) fell 12.08 points to stand 1,287 points.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 15.73 billion after three hours of trading when the report was filed at 1:00 pm.
Of the issues traded till then, `164 advanced, 127 declined and 71 remained unchanged.
Beximco was the most traded stock till then with shares worth Tk 1.79 billion changing hands, followed by Beximco Pharma, LafargeHolcim, LankaBangla Finance and IFIC Bank.
The port city bourse – the Chittagong Stock Exchange – (CSE) also saw a negative trend till then with CSE All Share Price Index- CASPI-losing 42 points to stand at 16,222, also at 1:00 pm.
Of the issues traded till then, 111 gained, 99 declined, and 44 issues remained unchanged with Tk 492 million in turnover.