Stocks witnessed sharp fall on Tuesday with falling turnover as worried investors sold shares, fearing further fall.
Market analysts said the finance minister’s latest remarks on capital market eroded investors confidence.
Despite the market index plunged 625 points in the past three months, the Finance Minister, AHM Mustafa Kamal said that he does not see any major problem in the prevailing trend in the capital market.
Mr Kamal made the remarks while talking with reporters Monday after a pre-budget meeting with the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) at its office in the city.
Market analysts, however, cited some reasons including dearth of quality stocks, lack of investors’ confidence, shortage of liquidity for the erosion in stock prices.
Following the sharp fall, a group of angry investors took to the streets and demanded resignation of M Khairul Hossain, the chief of the capital market watchdog.
The market opened on negative note and the downturn continued until end of the session.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,260, losing 62.87 points or 1.18 per cent over the previous day.
Two other indices also saw sharp decline. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, plunged more than 20 points to finish at 1,878 and the DSE Shariah Index slumped nearly 16 points to close at 1,215.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also fell below Tk 3.0 billion-mark and amounted to Tk 2.98 billion, which was 15 per cent lower than the previous day’s Tk 3.51 billion.
A total number of 93,333 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 76.39 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell to Tk 3,918 billion on Tuesday, from Tk 3,963 billion in the previous day.
Prices of 78 per cent traded issues declined as out of 342 issues traded, 267 declined, 34 advanced and 41 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Fortune Shoes topped the turnover chart with 9.0 million shares worth Tk 345 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were Monno Ceramic, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, United Power and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation.
National Life Insurance was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 7.56 per cent while Monno Ceramic was the worst loser, losing 8.72 per cent.
The port city bourse CSE also ended lower with its CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –shedding 148 points to settle at 16,121 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –losing 91 points to finish at 9,754.
Here too, the losers beat gainers, as 187 issues closed lower, 36 ended higher and 18 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 4.42 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 127 million in turnover.
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