Stocks plummeted on Wednesday, with prime index of the major bourse dipping to more than three months low, as worried investors sold shares, fearing further fall.
Market insiders said stocks fell as large-cap shares like Grameenphone (GP), United Power, BATBC, Brac Bank and Dutch-Bangla Bank witnessed selling pressure.
The market opened on negative trend and the downward trend continued until end of the session with no sign of reversal.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 69.97 points or 1.26 per cent to settle at more than three months low at 5,452.
The two other indices—the DS30 index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) – ended lower.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 29.66 points to finish at 1,947 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 11.88 points to close at 1,269.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, however, rose to Tk 4.51 billion, which was Tk 6.36 per cent higher than the previous day’s Tk 4.24 billion.
A total number of 112,942 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 83.80 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell to Tk 4,083 billion on Wednesday, from Tk 4,140 billion in the previous day.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 346 issues traded, 264 declined, 54 advanced, and 28 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
United Power topped the DSE turnover chart for the fifth straight day with 1.37 million shares worth Tk 548 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were BATBC, Grameenphone, Monno Ceramic Industries and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company.
United Insurance was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.90 per cent while United Power was the worst loser, losing 7.10 per cent.
The port city bourse CSE also ended lower with its CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –losing 196 points to settle at 16,735 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –shedding 118 points to finish at 10,133.
Here too, the losers beat gainers, as 168 issues closed lower, 52 ended higher and 16 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 4.52 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 785 million in turnover.