Stocks plummeted on Sunday with key index of the major bourse came down to a fresh 22-month low, triggered by panic sell-offs, fearing further fall of share prices.
Market operators said shrinking of foreign investment, fear of political turmoil ahead of national election coupled with thin participation of institutional investors behind the market fall.
Investors’ appetite for shares of newly listed Indo-Bangla Pharmaceuticals continued to lose after its debut trading day on October 18, sending its stock prices 11.81 per cent down to Tk 29.10 a share. The stock was also the biggest loser on the day.
The market opened on negative note and the downturn intensified amid countrywide transport strike. Finally, the key index of the major bourse eroded more than 69 points.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 69.80 points or 1.32 per cent to settle at 5,212. It was the lowest level of DSEX in 22 months since January 08, 2017.
The two other indices—the DS30 index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES)–also saw sharp decline.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, slumped 23.22 points to finish at 1,852 and the DSE Shariah Index shed 13 points to close at 1,210.
Bearish sentiment also reflected on the trading activities as total turnover on the DSE came down to Tk 3.72 billion which was 12 per cent lower than the previous session’s Tk 4.25 billion.
Of the 339 issues traded on the DSE trading floor, 247 closed lower, 64 issues ended higher and 28 issues remained unchanged.
A total number of 101,648 trades were executed in the day’s trading session on the DSE with trading volume of 110.76 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also came down to Tk 3,813 billion on the day which was Tk 3,845 billion in the previous session.
Khulna Power Company topped the DSE turnover chart with 1.92 million shares worth Tk 242 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were Monno Ceramic Industries, Shahjalal Islami Bank, BBS Cables and Active Fine Chemicals.
Mozaffar Hossain Spinning Mills was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 10.61 per cent while Indo-Bangla Pharmaceuticals was the worst loser, losing 11.81 per cent.
The port city bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), saw steep decline with its CSE All Share Price Index–CASPI–shedding 217 points to settle at 16,030 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –slumping by 128 points to finish at 9,714.
The losers beat gainers as 160 issues closed lower, 42 ended higher, with 23 issues remaining unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 6.75 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 149 million in turnover.
