The prime index of the major bourse slumped below the ‘psychological’ threshold of 5,000-mark once again Wednesday, hitting 32-month low, as investors continued to dump their holdings to escape further loss.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), lost 75.78 points or 1.51 per cent to settle at 32 month-low to 4,933. On December 21, 2016, the index was 4,924.
Market analysts said the investors’ confidence got a battering, which triggered panic sell-off, amid the depressed market outlook.
Ongoing bearish trend amid lack of investors’ confidence coupled with slumping export earnings in August hunt investors’ sentiments, taking a heavy toll on stock prices, said a leading broker.
Two other indices also saw sharp fall. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, plunged 21.92 points to finish at 1,736 and the DSE Shariah Index shed 14 points to close at 1,155.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, however, went up to Tk 5.02 billion, which was 23 per cent higher than the previous day’s Tk 4.07 billion.
A total number of 141,825 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 1258.36 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE also fell to Tk 3,696 billion on Wednesday, from Tk 3,747 billion in the previous session.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 353 issues traded, 288 closed lower, 37 ended higher and 28 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
National Tubes topped the turnover chart for the third straight session with shares worth nearly Tk 269 million changing hands, followed by JMI Syringes, Beacon Pharma, Monno Ceramic and Stylecraft.
National Tubes was also the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.93 per cent while ML Dyeing was the day’s worst loser, plunging by 9.56 per cent.
The port city’s bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange, also ended lower with its All Shares Price Index (CAPSI) -- CASPI—slumping by 213 points to close at 15,014 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX – shedding 132 points to finish at 9,114.
Here too, losers beat the gainers as 210 issues closed lower, 36 higher and 15 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 5.65 million shares and mutual fund units worth nearly Tk 146 million in turnover.
