DSEX suffers biggest-single day fall in four months

Dhaka stocks tumbled on Monday as investors opted for quick profit booking fearing further fall of the market in the wake of rising communal tension across the country.

The trading began on a negative note in the morning with the key index plunging more than 100 points to hit an intra-day low of 7,059, which is the lowest in over six weeks, before recovering some points.

At close, the DSEX index shed over 89 points or 1.24 per cent to close at 7,097—the lowest since September 5, 2021 when it was 7,052, extending its losing streak for the sixth straight session.

This is also the largest single-day fall since June 27, 2021 when it fell 100 points.

The Shariah-based DSES index was down 21 points or 1.36 per cent to 1,525 while the blue-chip comprising DS30 index shed 14 points or 0.51 per cent to 2,705.

A rumour about the Quran being dishonoured at a Hindu place of worship in Cumilla has ignited a series of communal attacks across the country, resulting in the deaths of seven people, according to reports.

“Investors booked quick profits amid rising communal violence,” said a top broker.

The continuous fall also worried investors, who preferred to remain on the sideline, resulting in declining in trading activities, he said.

The total turnover decreased significantly by 15.80 per cent to stand at Tk 1,394 crore from the previous session’s Tk 1,655 crore.

“Investors were on the sideline due to consecutive corrections as they think that the market may decline further as the bull run had overheated the market earlier,” said EBL Securities in its daily market analysis.

The market fell across the board as out of 374 issues traded, 33 advanced, 324 declined and 17 remained unchanged.

All the sectors except paper and printing, and tannery took a hit of selling pressure led by services and real estate dropping over 3 per cent. Jute, NBFI, textile, IT, ceramic, and life insurance sectors declined more than 2 per cent each.

The pharmaceutical sector made up 14.63 per cent of the total trade, followed by bank 13.24 per cent, and engineering 8.54 per cent.

Meghna Condensed Milk was the worst loser slipping over 9 per cent while Golden Son was the top gainer gaining 9.75 per cent.

“Economic uncertainty amid surging trade deficit, rising inflation and the continuous devaluation of taka against dollar might also take toll on the investor sentiment, “ said an analyst at an investment bank.