Stocks plunged on Wednesday as risk-averse investors opted for a quick profit on major sector issues amid the rising trend of virus infections and death in the country.
Following the previous day’s marginal correction, the market opened on a negative note and fell sharply in the final hour.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 69.89 points or 1.14 per cent to settle below the 6,100-mark at 6,035. DSEX lost nearly 90 points in the two straight sessions.
Two other indices also ended lower with the DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, fell 16.86 points to finish at 2,188 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) shed 6.91 points to close at 1,297.
Market experts said the investors continued their selling binge on major sector stocks riding on the news that daily Covid-19 infections and deaths are rising alarmingly in recent days in the country.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, remained above Tk 20 billion-mark and amounted to Tk 20.30 billion, which was 0.65 per cent higher than the previous day’s tally of Tk 20.17 billion.
Turnover remained high as the institutional investors were active on the market due to the removal of the floor price restriction from all listed securities, said a merchant banker.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 372 issues traded, 217 declined, 133 advanced and 22 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 1.60 billion changing hands, followed by National Feed Mills (Tk 667 million), Makson Spinning Mills (Tk 493 million), Dragon Sweater (470 million) and Kattali Textile (Tk 411 million).
Monno Ceramic was the day’s top gainer, posting a 9.96 per cent gain while Pioneer Insurance was the worst loser, losing 9.82 per cent.
A total number of 322,583 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 757.35 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market cap of DSE also fell to Tk 5,082 billion on Wednesday, down from the previous day’s Tk 5,124 billion.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) ended sharply lower with its Selective Categories Index – CSCX- losing 194 points to close at 10,570.
Of the issues traded, 179 declined, 118 and 21 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city’s bourse traded 40.26 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 1.36 billion.
