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Marred by hawkish tones from the Bangladesh Bank about the financial institution’s stock exposure limit, Dhaka stocks drifted further lower on Sunday in continuation to the previous session’s fall.
The benchmark DSEX index opened lower in the morning amid selling pressure and started to slide as the day progressed, pushing the index gradually lower.
At close, DSEX shed 64 points or 0.92 per cent to settle at 6,926. With this, it lost more than 116 points in two days.
Its junior partners the Shariah-based DSES index dropped 9 points or 0.62 per cent at 1,498 while the blue-chip DS30 index declined 28 points or 1 per cent at 2,545.
NBFI sector (-2.15 per cent) was the worst hit as out of 23 issues traded, 21 closed in red, one marginally gained and one remained unchanged.
Investors dumped the NBFI stocks in response to the central bank’s tightening stock market exposure limit of the sector, dealers say.
The market prices of shares, debentures, corporate bonds, units of mutual funds and other capital market instruments held by the NBFIs would be considered as their capital market investments, according to the Bangladesh Bank.
The credits provided by the NBFIs to their subsidiary companies will also be considered as their stock market investments, it said.
The move triggered a chain effect in other sectors that dragged the benchmark index lower including insurance (-1.86 per cent), IT (-3.67 per cent), textile ( -1.11 per cent), telecommunications (-0.79 per cent) and miscellaneous ( -1.22 per cent).
Among the individual companies, Grameenphone (-5.53 points), British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company (-5.13 points), ICB (-4 points), Walton Hi-Tech Industries (-4 points), Square Pharmaceuticals ( -2.98 points), Beximco (-2.56 points) and Robi (-2.3 points).
Genex Infosys was the top loser in the benchmark pack, falling 8.73 per cent. It was followed by Yakin Polymer, Tamijuddin Textile Mills, Union Insurance, and Central Pharmaceuticals.
“Stocks plummeted further from the psychological threshold of 7,000 points as investors reacted negatively with concern to the Bangladesh Bank’s circular regarding the capital market exposure of NBFIs,” said the EBL Securities in a note.
“Investors presumed positive moves from the Bangladesh Bank. However they perceived the recent circular as further tightening of the NBFI’s capital market exposure,” it said.
However, investors’ participation increased as the total turnover stood at Tk 1,140 crore, a rise of 8.3 per cent over the previous session. The tannery sector accounted for 22.8 per cent of the total turnover, followed by pharmaceuticals 10.5 per cent and engineering 9.6 per cent.
Out of the 385 issues traded, 77 advanced, 270 declined, and 38 remained unchanged.
The port city bourse, CSE, also tumbled in red terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) have declined by 139.7 points and 229.1 points respectively.
