Rocky investors’ hefty selloffs pummel stocks

Stocks in Bangladesh slumped Wednesday as rocky investors continued selloffs to book profits on major large-cap selective stocks.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), suffered 45.21 points or 0.68 per cent to settle at 6,551.

Among two other indices, the DS30, the blue-chip index, lost 26.93 points to close at 2,375, and the DSES, the Shariah-based index, plunged 12 points to 1,436.

The DSE turnover also plummeted by 36.2 per cent to Tk 1,808.2 crore, compared to the tally of Tk 2,832.3 crore in the previous session.

The DSE turnover hit a fresh one-year high riding on the recently outperformed stocks in the overheated market Tuesday.

The equity indices on the Dhaka bourse tumbled since the cautious investors chose to liquidate their holdings anticipating gloomy earnings forecast of the major companies, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

The market observed a volatile session since most of the stocks extended their losing streak while investors were rushing to selective stocks in the hope of quick gains, it commented.

On the sectoral front, pharma & chemical topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 27.3 per cent, followed by miscellaneous (23.7 per cent) and fuel & power (7.2 per cent) Wednesday.

Most of the sectors displayed dismal returns as jute suffered 6.2 per cent, ceramic 3.2 per cent, and services 2.6 per cent.

On the other hand, travel, paper, and fuel & power recorded positive returns on the premier bourse.

Out of the 386 issues traded, 58 advanced, 159 declined, and 170 did not see any price movement on the DSE trading floor.

The port city bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also closed lower on the day with the CSCX and the CASPI giving up 78.9 points and 130.7 points respectively.