The daily trade turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) fell to six months low on Thursday as investors were reluctant to make fresh investment in stocks amid ongoing bearish trend.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 2.54 billion on the country’s premier bourse, slumping further by 9.60 per cent over previous day’s mark of Tk 2.81 billion.
It was the lowest single-day transaction since May 14 this year, when the turnover totalled a record Tk 2.51 billion.
Market analysts said investors reluctant to make fresh investment amid lack of confidence while poor macroeconomic indicators, dearth of quality stocks and liquidity crunch exacerbated the ongoing confidence crisis among investors.
The financial sector remained volatile with liquidity crisis, soaring interest rate, huge non-performing loans and pressure on the exchange rate that spilled over into the capital market, said a leading broker.
The government’s market supportive measures also failed to attract investors to the moribund capital market, he said.
Along with falling turnover, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), also went down by 1.87 points or 0.04 per cent to settle at 4,417, lowest in 42 months since June 27, 2016.
Two other indices ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 9.59 points to finish at 1,498 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 8.30 points to close at 986.
Gainers took a strong lead over the losers as out of 353 issues traded, 203 closed higher, 94 ended lower and 56 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 96,469 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 97.06 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE also declined to Tk 3,373 billion on Thursday, from Tk 3,380 billion in the previous session.
Square Pharmaceuticals topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 87 million changing hands, closely followed by Beacon Pharma, Bangladesh National Insurance, Ring Shine Textiles and Standard Ceramic.
Al-Haj Textile was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.54 per cent while Shepherded Industries was the worst loser, losing 5.92 per cent.
The port city’s bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange, also saw a slight decline with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—losing 1.21 points to close at 13,440 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –falling 0.08 points to finish at 8,151.
Here too, the gainers beat losers, as 119 issues closed higher, 77 ended lower and 34 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 6.58 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 124 million in turnover.
