Stocks tumble as investors react negatively

Dhaka stocks took a dive on Wednesday as investors responded negatively by selling shares to reports that no decision was taken in Tuesday’s market monitoring committee’s meeting.

The trading began on a negative note in the morning on selling pressure and the negative sentiment continued at the close.

The benchmark DSEX index dropped over 96 points or 1.37 per cent to settle at 6,952, reversing from the previous session’s rally.

The Shariah-based DSES index was down 13 points or 0.87 per cent to 1,467 while the blue-chip comprising DS30 index fell 39 points 1.47 per cent to 2,621. “Investors sold off their holdings in reaction to the outcome of the meeting, pulling the market down,” said a top broker.

On Tuesday, the capital market monitoring committee sit to discuss the current market situation and harmonise between the banking and stock market rules but ended without any decision.

Representatives from Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), National Board of Revenue (NBR), and Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) attended the meeting. The market witnessed extreme volatility over the conflicting news on policy-related issues.

The BB and BSEC have been involved in a long dispute over the corporate governance code, Banking Companies Act, 1991, and the Financial Institutions Act, 1993.

All the large-cap sectors posted negative performance. NBFI experienced the highest loss of 2.6 per cent followed by bank 1.71 per cent, power 1 per cent, engineering 0.95 per cent, pharmaceutical 0.78 per cent, food and allied 0.45 per cent, and telecommunication 0.42 per cent.

“Indices of the Dhaka bourse started to tumble from the early hour of the trading session after the market observed a sharp rise in the past few sessions due to investors’ expectations from the high-voltage market coordination meeting,” said EBL Securities on a note.

He said investors started to take profit to avoid corrections as solutions regarding banks’ investment in the capital market remained unclear after the meeting held at the finance ministry on Tuesday.

Moreover, some small-cap scrips dominated the top-chart board as investors’ activity was firmly concentrated on those issues, it said adding besides, turnover declined by 13.42 per cent and was recorded at Tk 1,152 crore as against Tk 1,331 crore in the previous session.

Beximco Ltd that shed 4.3 per cent was the most traded share with a turnover of Tk 96.4 crore. It was followed by IFIC Bank, GSP Finance, One Bank, Power Grid, SKICL, and First Security Bank.

The port city bourse, CSE, however, settled in red terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) declined by 152.0 points and 247.4 points respectively.