Stocks tumble as worries persist over strategic partner


FE Online Report | Published: February 18, 2018 17:40:23 | Updated: February 20, 2018 10:21:32


Stocks tumble as worries persist over strategic partner

Stocks tumbled on Sunday, extending the losing streak for the second consecutive day, as investors sold shares in bulk amid growing tension over selection of strategic partner.

Analysts said growing tension over the final selection of Dhaka bourse’s strategic partner, liquidity shortage coupled with ongoing indiscipline in the country’s banking sector kept the investors at bay.

The market started on a downward trend and the downturn continued till the end of the session with no sign of reversal – thereby finally ending nearly 100 points lower.

DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 99.44 points or 1.64 per cent to come down below 6,000-mark to settle at 5,950.

Two other indices of the premier bourse also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising the blue-chips, fell 37.38 points or 1.67 per cent to finish at 2,193 and DSES (Shariah) plunged 10.79 points or 0.76 per cent to settle at 1,394.

Bearish sentiment also reflected on the premier bourse as total turnover came down to Tk 4.40 billion, which was 14 per cent lower than the previous day’s Tk 5.12 billion.

The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 336 issues traded, 270 closed lower, 49 higher and 17 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

Fu-Wang Foods topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 164 million changing hands, closely followed by Unique Hotel & Resorts, LankaBangla Finance, Brac Bank and Grameenphone.

Fine Foods was the day’s highest gainer, posting a gain of 9.87 per cent while Beximco Synthetics was the worst loser, losing 9.21 per cent.

The port city bourse also closed lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CAPSI - shedding 299 points to settle at 18,423 and Selective Categories Index - CSCX – falling 178 points to finish at 11,118.

The losers beat the gainers here too as 182 issues closed lower, 30 ended higher and 15 remained unchanged.

The CSE traded 9.0 million shares and mutual fund units worth nearly Tk 300 million in turnover.

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