BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s stocks suffered a notable correction on Wednesday as cautious investors continued their selling spree following the news of slashing the limit of banks’ advance-deposit ratio (ADR).
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) slashed the limit of advance-deposit ratio (ADR) on Tuesday to help check any possible liquidity pressure on the market due to the banks’ ‘aggressive’ lending.
The ADR is re-fixed at 83.50 percent for all the conventional banks and at 89 percent for the Shariah-based Islamic banks. The existing ratios are 85 per cent and 90 percent respectively. The banks must adjust it gradually by June 30.
Following the previous day’s downturn, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) opened downward trend amid low trading activities.
Within first 15 minutes of trading, the key index of the country’s prime bourse fell more than 41 points while the CSE All Share Price Index (CAPSI) of port city’s bourse lost 53 points at 10:45am.
After 30 minutes of trading, the key index of the DSE plunged more than 48 points while the CSE All Share Price Index (CAPSI) shed 78 points at 11:00am.
After 90 minutes of trading, DSEX went down by 79 points while the CSE All Shares Price Index lost 204 points at 12:0noon.
The negative trend continued till end of the session with no sign of reversal, finally DSEX ended more than 88 points lower while CAPSI shed 264 points at closing.
DSEX, prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 6,039, slumping by more than 88 points or 1.44 percent over the previous session.
Two other indices of the premier bourse also saw sharp declined. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, plunged 28 points or 1.23 percent to finish at 2,239 and DSES (Shariah) dropped by 16 points or 1.13 per cent to close at 1,398.
However, trading activities increased to BDT 4.72 billion, which was 18 percent higher than the previous day’s BDT 3.99 billion.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 335 issues traded, 278 closed lower, 31 higher and 26 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Olympic Industries topped the turnover chart with shares worth BDT 284 million changing hands, followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, LankaBangla Finance, Grameenphone and IFAD Autos.
Port city bourse CSE also closed lower with CSE All Share Price Index – CAPSI- shedding 264 points to settle at 18,691 and Selective Categories Index - CSCX – falling 157 points to finish at 11,292.
Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 200 issues closed lower, 16 ended higher and 16 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 17.54 million shares and mutual fund units worth nearly BDT 434 million in turnover.
BBN/SSR/AD