Dhaka stock ended lower on Sunday, a day after the securities regulator imposed circuit breaker to boost the ailing capital market.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, went down by 14.79 points or 0.37 per cent to settle at 3,960, after jumping 371 points in the previous session.
Trading on bourses also took place for 3 hours - 10:30am to 1:30pm as the bourses curtailed trading time by one hour due to anxiety over coronavirus pandemic.
The presence of investors on the trading floor was also thin as the bourses discourage clients for rushing in the brokerage house and encourage more for trading through mobile apps and other internet based devices.
To curb the free-fall of stock prices, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission imposed circuit breaker on Thursday last.
Under the new circuit breaker system, price of no security will be allowed to hit below its average closing price of five preceding days.
Despite imposition of circuit breaker, jittery investors dumped their holdings amid mounting fears over coronavirus outbreak, analysts said.
Two other indices also slipped into the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 4.21 points to finish at 1,321 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 2.76 points to close at 916.
Turnover, an important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 1.45 billion on the country’s premier bourse, which was Tk 419 million in the previous day’s 30 minutes session.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 347 issues traded, 209 closed lower, 25 ended higher and 113 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 27,329 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 47.72 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE also fell to Tk 3,102 billion, from Tk 3,107 billion in the previous session.
Monno Ceramic topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 171 million changing hands, followed by Square Pharma, JMI Syringes, Bank Asia and Aziz Pipes.
Exim bank First Mutual Fund was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 17.14 per cent while BSRM was the worst loser, losing 9.88 per cent.
However, the Chittagong Stock Exchange edged higher with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—advancing 53 points to close at 11,187 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –gaining 31 points to finish at 6,777.
The gainers beat losers, as 44 issues closed higher and 161 issues remained unchanged on the CSE with no issue declined.
The port city bourse traded 3.12 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 56 million in turnover.
