Stock Market Reaction to COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Industry Analysis in Frontier Market

The effect of COVID-19 on the efficiency of frontier stock markets at the industrial level has received little attention. This study aimed to analyze the Dhaka stock exchange’s immediate market response to the initial COVID-19 announcement at the industry level. An event study approach was used to cross-sectional daily returns of 311 enterprises grouped into seventeen industry groups to determine anomalous returns for a total of 21 trading days divided into seven separate event periods. According to the findings, the average abnormal return and cumulative average abnormal return for the total market return for the event and the subsequent days were both negative and statistically significant. A cross- sectional industrial analysis found that, except for the paper and printing industries, all other sectors produced a considerably abnormal and uniform negative abnormal return. The most substantial negative cumulative average abnormal returns were seen in event windows (0, 0), (0, +1) and (0, +5), which might be attributed to post-announcement drift and inefficient market activity. Furthermore, when comparing the results of the Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing sectors, the Manufacturing sector had more gloomy outcomes. The COVID-19 epidemic was proven to have negative effects on several industry groups, including those in the pharmaceutical, information technology and telecommunications sectors, which were expected to benefit from the outbreak. This is one of the few empirical studies that investigate the impact of the epidemic on the cross-sectional industry stock return in frontier markets. The results of this research will aid both international and domestic investors in their pursuit of the best possible portfolio composition.