Stocks plummeted on Sunday with the key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSEX) dipping nearly two months low as cautious investors were on a selling binge.
The market opened on an upbeat trend and the core index soared 62 points within the first hour of trading. But the rest of the session went down steadily amid panic sell-offs.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the benchmark of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), plunged 70.52 points or 0.99 per cent to settle at nearly two months lowest at 7,005, after gaining more than 55 points in the previous day.
Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, dropped 1.02 points to finish at 2,698 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) fell sharply by 30.37 points to close at 1,487.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 14.71 billion on the country’s premier bourse, which was 12 per cent higher than the previous day’s tally of Tk 13.10 billion.
Market analysts said the market fell further amid remarkable profit booking sell-offs on major sector stocks by the risk-averse investors.
The year-end dividend and quarter-end earnings declarations may have failed to meet the investors’ expectations which prompted them for selling shares, said a stockbroker.
Some investors purchased shares of Beximco, United Power, BSRM and Orion Pharma following their higher profit growth, but failed to offset the losses, he said.
The top negative index contributors were Grameenphone, Square Pharma, Robi, Walton, LafargeHolcim, BATBC and ICB, according to amarsctok.com.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 375 issues traded, 292 closed lower, 57 higher and 26 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco--the flagship company of Beximco Group-topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 3.42 billion changing hands, capturing 23 per cent of the day’s total turnover.
It was followed by Orion Pharma (Tk 793 million), Delta Life Insurance (Tk 784 million), NRB Commercial Bank (Tk 728 million) and Genex Infosys (Tk 617 million).
Beximco was also the top gainer, posting a 7.50 per cent gain following the news of its record dividend and profit growth while FAS Finance was the worst loser, losing 10.66 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –plunging by 122 points to settle at 20,570 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX – shedding 72 points to close at 12,361.
Of the issues traded, 205 declined, 62 advanced and 21 remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.
The port city’s bourse traded 12.87 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of nearly Tk 500 million.
