Stocks back into red as major sectors slump
FE Online Report | October 21, 2019
Stocks slipped back into the red zone on Monday, after a single-day break, as risk-averse investors went on selling binge on major sectors’ issues.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 20.67 points or 0.43 per cent to settle at 4,761, after advancing 11 points in the previous day.
Market analysts said ongoing depressed market outlook kept most of the investors at the edge, taking the market in the red territory.
GP, which is the largest company by capital, plunged further 1.04 per cent, contributing nearly 7 points of the DSEX’s fall alone, according to data of amarstock.com, a stock market data analyst.
The shaky investors liquidated holding from BATBC, Square Pharma, IFAD Autos and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, said a leading broker.
He noted that the institutional investors are suffering from liquidity crunch while the retail investors are not confident enough to inject fresh funds into stocks, reflecting lower trading activities.
Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 10.45 points to finish at 1,675 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 9.68 points to close at 1,089.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 3.50 billion, which was 12 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 3.12 billion.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 354 issues traded, 250 issues closed lower, 63 ended higher and 41 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
United Power topped the turnover chart with 463,197 shares worth Tk 128 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were National Tubes, Premier Bank, Wata Chemicals and Square Pharma.
A total number of 104,825 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 115.88 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell to Tk 3,588 billion on Monday, from Tk 3,601 billion in the previous session.
United Power was also the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 7.20 per cent while CVO Petrochemicals Refinery was the worst loser, losing 9.69 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also closed lower with its CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –losing 60 points to settle at 14,482 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX –shedding 35 points to finish at 8,805.
Here too, the losers beat gainers, as 163 issues closed lower, 63 ended higher and 29 remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.
The port city bourse traded 8.95 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 209 million in turnover.
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