Stocks witnessed a major correction Wednesday with key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) fell below 5,600-mark once again after nine months.
Market operators said the retail investors went for selling spree to avoid further loss while the institutional investors could not support the market more because of persistent liquidity shortage, taking the core index below 5,600-mark once again.
Following the previous two days’ downward movement, the DSE and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) opened on negative trend which sustained till end of the session with no sign of reversal.
Finally, DSEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, went down by more than 76 points or 1.36 per cent to settle at 5,572, the lowest level since June 21, 2017.
The two other indices of the premier bourse also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 17.36 points to finish at 2,085 and DSES (Shariah) index slumped 11.08 points to settle at 1,322.
Trading activities, however, increased and the total turnover on the major bourse amounting to Tk 3.52 billion, which was 45 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 2.42 billion.
Prices of nearly 80 per cent traded issues declined as out of 337 issues traded, 268 closed lower, 50 ended higher and 19 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Square Pharmaceuticals topped the day’s turnover chart with shares worth Tk 117 changing hands, followed by Grameenphone, Doreen Power, IFAD Autos and Brac Bank.
Central Insurance was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 7.28 per cent while CAPM BDBL Mutual Fund-1 was the day’s worst loser, losing 9.27 per cent.
Port city bourse CSE also saw major correction with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –slumping by 212 points to settle at 17,237 points and Selective Categories Index - CSCX –shedding 129 points to finish at 10,412 points.
Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 180 issues closed lower, 30 ended higher and 17 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The CSE traded 5.69 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 281 million in turnover.
