BBN file photo

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh’s stocks fell significantly on Monday, after remaining positive in the past three days, as risk-averse investors went on selling mode.

Investors were mostly on selling mode, particularly on telecommunication, banking, non-bank financial issues, taking the market index to six weeks low, according to the market operators.

Disappointing earnings declaration of some listed companies also prompted investors for selling shares, they added.

The market opened on downward trend and the negative trend continued till end of the session with no sign of reversal.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled to six weeks low at 5,724, losing 51.30 points or 0.88 per cent over the previous session.

Banking sector faced sale pressure ahead of earnings and dividend declaration while Bangladesh Bank’s approval to three new banks made investors cautious in the sector, EBL Securities said.

Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, plunged 17.34 points to finish at 1987 and the DSES (Shariah) index fell 10.06 points to settle at 1,304.

Turnover, another important indicator of the market, however, rose to BDT 8.91 billion, which was nearly 23 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of BDT 7.25 billion.

A total number of 170.175 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 208.13 million shares and mutual fund units.

The market-cap of the DSE came down to BDT 4,130 billion, from BDT 4,165 billion in the previous day.

According to International Leasing Securities, telecom, bank, textile, financial institutions, general insurance, pharma and engineering sectors stocks the liquidation which pushed down the prime index by 51 points.
Telecommunication posted the highest loss of 3.13 per cent, followed by banking with 1.30 per cent, non-bank financial institutions 0.76 per cent, engineering 0.32 per cent, food 0.27 per cent and pharma 0.18 per cent.

The losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 347 issues traded, 242 closed lower, 68 ended higher and 37 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

United Power topped the day’s turnover chart with 1.34 million shares worth BDT 537 million changing hands, closely followed by Fortune Shoes, Bangladesh Submarine Cable, Peninsula Chittagong and Alif Industries.

The Peninsula Chittagong was the day’s best performer, posting a 9.92 per cent gain while Imam Button was the worst loser, plunging by 10 per cent.

On the other hand, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – losing 112 points to settle at 17,541 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX -shedding 70 points to finish at 10,614.

Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 177 issues ended lower, 69 closed higher and 23 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse traded 9.43 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than BDT 344 million in turnover.

BBN/SSR/AD