Stocks extended the losing streak for the third straight session on Tuesday as worried investors continued their selling spree on sector-wise shares.
DSEX, the prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 28.48 points or 0.60 per cent to settle at 4,670—the lowest level since November 15, 2016.
Following the continuous index fall, a group of aggrieved investors held a press conference in the national press club on Tuesday in protest against the inaction of the authorities.
The retail investors, under the banner of ‘Bangladesh Pujibazar Biniogkari Oikya Parishad,’ demanded immediate actions to help revive the market.
They also demanded immediate resignation of Chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) M Khairul Hossain for his alleged failure to bring back the market normal despite the government took a series of market supportive measures.
Market analysts said the investors have been suffering a crisis of confidence for long and the recent fall of the index mounted the crisis among them.
They said lower than expected dividend recommendation and some companies “no” dividend declarations during the trading hours also dampened investors’ confidence.
The market opened on negative note and the downward trend continued until end of the session with no sign of revisal.
Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 13.44 points to finish at 1,635 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 7.07 points to close at 1,067.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 3.58 billion, which was nearly 17 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 3.05 billion.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 354 issues traded, 197 closed lower, 110 ended higher and 47 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 108,786 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 134.23 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell to Tk 3,551 billion on Tuesday, from Tk 3,562 billion in the previous session.
National Tubes topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 190 million changing hands, followed by Sonar Bangla Insurance, Monno Ceramic, Legacy Footwear and Square Pharma.
Alif Manufacturing Company was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 21.31 per cent while Intech was the day’s worst loser, plunging by 37 per cent following its ‘no’ dividend declaration.
The port city’s bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange, also ended lower with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI –shedding 140 points to settle at 14,184 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –losing 83 points to finish at 8,627.
Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 145 issues closed lower, 67 ended higher and 27 remained unchanged.
The port city’s bourse traded 6.70 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 148 million in turnover.
babulfexpress@gmail.com