Stocks plummeted Monday, extending the bearish trend for the seven days in a row, with key index of the major bourse dipping below 5,800-mark low after nearly eight months.
Analysts said the persistent liquidity shortage coupled with ongoing pessimism kept investors mostly inactive, taking the key index below 5,800-mark once again.
They said the institutional investors mostly refrained from injecting fresh funds into the market observing the market movement carefully amid fund shortage.
The market started on a negative note which continued till end of the session amid marginal volatility in the first hour, finally ended more than 57 points lower.
DSEX, core index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,774.57, slumping by 57.55 points or 0.98 per cent over the previous session. It was the lowest level of DSEX since July 9, 2017.
According to DSE data, DSE core index eroded more than 327 points in the past seven consecutive sessions.
Two other indices of the premier bourse also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell nearly 15 points or 0.69 per cent to finish at 2,127 and DSES (Shariah) lost nearly 13 points or 0.93 per cent to close at 1,348.
Bearish sentiment also reflected on the trading activities as total turnover on the DSE amounting to Tk 3.51 billion, which was 8.59 per cent lower than the previous day’s Tk 3.84 billion.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 334 issues traded, 249 closed lower, 38 closed higher and 47 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Olympic Industries topped the DSE turnover chart with shares worth Tk 215 million changing hands, closely followed by IFAD Autos, Square Pharmaceuticals, Unique Hotel & Resorts and National Tubes.
Port city bourse CSE also closed lower with its CSE All Share Price Index – CAPSI- shedding 163 points to settle at 17845 and elective Categories Index - CSCX – falling 97 points to finish at 10,770 points.
Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 161 issues closed lower, 36 higher and 25 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 5.79 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 149 million in turnover.