Amid the depleting market momentum, Dhaka stocks sank massively on Tuesday, with the premier bourse’s key index plunging to a three-and-a-half-month low as investors tried aggressively to offload their holdings to save their capital in the bear market.
Stocks plummeted sharply, as per stockbrokers, as investors became nervous owing to rising tensions regarding the market outlook, further exacerbated by massive selloffs right from the start of the session, leading the prime index to shed over 30 points in a single day after around two months.
Investors were rushing to protect their funds as they were extremely worried about the market impact of the ongoing uncertainties about the political and macroeconomic situation in the days to come, they said.
The DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), plunged 30.7 points to settle at 6,257 against 6,288 in the previous trading session.
The DS30 Index, which comprises blue-chips, fell 14 points to 2,124, while the DSES index, the Shariah-based companies, saw 6.1 points fall to 1,357.
Turnover, another crucial market indicator, fell by 2.8 per cent to Tk 414 crore against the tally of Tk 426 crore in the previous session.
Block trades accounted for Tk 44.6 crore or 10.8 per cent of the overall market turnover yesterday.
The food and allied sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 18.5 per cent of the total turnover of the Dhaka bourse, followed by general insurance (10.3 per cent) and pharma (9.8 per cent).
Major stocks have been stuck at their floors for months, while small-cap stocks dominated the turnover chart for the last few months.
Fu Wang Food Ltd was the most traded stock with Tk 23 crore worth of its shares changing hands, followed by Sonali Paper and Board Mills Ltd, and Gemini Sea Food Ltd.
Investors’ sale dominance extended from the previous session due to a lack of confidence across the trading floor that eroded investment appetite in the capital market as risk-averse investors preferred to safeguard their funds amidst uncertain market momentum, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.
All the sectors displayed dismal returns, with the travel facing the highest correction of 6.2 per cent, followed by IT (2.3 per cent) and paper (2.3 per cent), according to EBL Securities.
As per the daily market review of Brac-epl Stock Brokerage, the food and allied sector experienced the highest loss of 0.38 per cent, followed by pharmaceutical (0.15 per cent), bank (0.11 per cent), engineering (0.11 per cent), fuel and power (0.11 per cent), NBFI (0.05 per cent), and telecommunication (0.00 per cent).
Central Pharmaceuticals Limited rose 2.7 per cent to become the day’s top gainer, while Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries Limited fell 8.8 per cent, becoming the day’s worst sufferer.
Out of the securities traded, 19 advanced, 147 declined and 226 remained unchanged.
The port city bourse, CSE, also settled on red terrain, with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX), and the all-share price index (CASPI) – declining by 39.5 points and 65.5 points respectively.
