Banking, stock market hours reduced for Ramadan

Banking hours have been cut down by an hour, while stock market trading time has been trimmed by half and hour

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Trading hours for banks and the stock market have been reduced during Ramadan, with banking cut by an hour and stock market trading shortened by half an hour.

In a notice, Bangladesh Bank said during Ramadan, bank transactions will open at 9:30am instead of 10am and continue until 2:30pm, instead of the usual 4pm.

There will also be a prayer break from 1:15pm to 1:30pm. The central bank has also instructed that transactions continue through internal coordination as usual during the break.

Banks, however, will remain open until 4pm for official work. Trading and office hours will return to their regular timings after Ramadan and Eid.

The country’s largest stock market, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) says trading during Ramadan will start at 10am, the usual time, and trading will continue until 1:40pm. There will then be a 10-minute post-closing session.

The official activities of the DSE will continue from 9am to 3:30pm.

After the end of Ramadan and the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays, the DSE will return to regular hours. Under this scheduled, stock market trades are open from 10am to 2:30pm and office hours are from 9am to 4:30pm.

In addition, from the start of Ramadan this year, government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous offices will be open from 9am to 3:30pm.

Government employees normally work from 9am to 5pm.

Ramadan may begin on Feb 18 or 19, depending on the sighting of the moon.