Stocks suffered a sharp fall on Monday as investors went on panic sale after Bangladesh Bank (BB) fined seven banks for violating securities rules on share investment.
Brokers said the investors went on the selling binge fearing further fall of stock prices as the central bank is now investigating the stock market activities of another eight banks.
The market started with a steep decline and the downward trend continued till end of the session with no sign of reversal, finally ended more than 76 points lower.
DSEX, the core index of the DSE, which replaced the DGEN in four-and-a-half-year back, settled at 6,129 points, after eroding 76.60 points or 1.23 per cent after adding more than 126 points in the six consecutive trading sessions.
The two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips fell 15.48 points or 0.70 per cent to finish at 2,199. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) lost 5.39 points or 0.39 per cent to close at 1,349.
Turneover, the crucial indicator of the market, came down to Tk 9.67 billion, which was 8.25 per cent lower than the previous day’s Tk 10.54 billion.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 332 issues traded, 205 closed lower, 92 closed higher and 35 remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
LankaBangla Finance topped the day’s turnover chart with 9.20 million shares of Tk 598 million changing hands, closely followed by Uttara Bank, Islami Bank, IFIC Bank and Exim Bank.
Stylecraft was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 6.24 per cent while Simtex Industries was the day’s worst loser, plunging by 7.93 per cent.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX – losing 133 points to close at 11,523.
Losers beat gainers as 156 issues closed lower, 70 closed higher and 23 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 18.92 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 491 million in turnover.
