Stocks’ bleeding continues amid liquidity crunch

Dhaka stocks continued to weaken for the second consecutive trading session on Monday amidst poorer turnover as the ailing market battered investors’ confidence to put fresh funds in new scrips.

The market, according to analysts, was failing to lure new investors, while many of the existing investors were also pulling out their funds, leading the market to hit a poorer turnover.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), dropped 12 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 6,212 yesterday against 6,225 points in the previous trading session.

Among other indices, the DS30, the blue-chip index, fell 0.43 points or 0.38 per cent to close at 2,198, and the DSES, the Shariah-based index, shed 4.08 points or 0.29 per cent to finish at 1,359.

Turnover, another crucial market indicator, increased slightly by 10 per cent to Tk 345 crore against the tally of Tk 313 crore in the previous session.

The DSE turnover plunged to a 20-month low on Sunday.

The alleged loan scams in the country’s banking sector published recently in the media cast a shadow over investors’ optimism, aided by the ongoing macroeconomic strains and the apprehensions regarding the resurgence of political turbulence, market analysts said.

Moreover, many investors buying shares with margin loans were being forced to sell shares in face of pressure to repay their loans, they said, another reason to rattle the market.

Investors opted to remain watchful and hold their cash until there was any major trigger for the market to bounce back, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

Even the rise in exports receipts and remittance inflow coupled with the relief of inflationary pressure by 6 basis points in November, also failed to restore investors’ confidence on the trading floor, it added.

The pharma & chemicals sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 23.5 per cent to the total turnover, followed by the IT (21.4 per cent) and paper (9.9 per cent) sectors.

Most of the sectors displayed dismal returns at the premier bourse with the paper sector suffering the most with a loss of 3.4 per cent, followed by services (0.6 per cent) and life insurance (0.6 per cent).

On the other hand, the IT sector posted a slightly positive return of 1.1 per cent, followed by jute (0.6 per cent) and miscellaneous (0.3 per cent).

Out of the 299 issues traded, 23 stocks advanced, 55 issues declined, and 312 scrips did not see any price movement on the DSE trading floor.

The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also dipped yesterday with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX), and the all-share price index (CASPI), declining by 46.2 points and 77 points respectively.