The liquidity crisis in the country’s capital market has intensified as investors returned to the selling mood in order to save their capital from the prevailing market volatility.
Except for some cases, the premier bourse – Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) – witnessed slim turnover over past some trading sessions as investors in no way found it safe to take fresh bets in equities amid the dampening market situation, stockbrokers said.
Following the slim investor presence, the daily DSE turnover fell below Tk 400 crore-mark on Tuesday, hitting a four-month low. Though the turnover rose slightly next day it again plunged below this mark yesterday.
The Dhaka bourse’s daily turnover stood at Tk 381 crore Thursday, a fresh four-and-a-half-month low, which was also down 9.1 per cent from the tally of Tk 419 crore in the previous session.
The food and allied sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 20.2 per cent of the total turnover of the Dhaka bourse, followed by textile (12.3 per cent) and miscellaneous (10.6 per cent).
Fu Wang Food Ltd was the day’s most traded stock with Tk 23 crore worth of its shares changing hands, followed by Alif Industries Limited, and Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries Limited.
Meanwhile, the DSEX, the benchmark index of the prime bourse, edged up 0.26 point to settle at 6,297 crore against 6,296 in the previous trading session.
The equity indices ended on a flat note following a volatile session as opportunistic investors rushed to take position in selective issues with quick-gaining potential, while investor participation remained sluggish due to the dampened confidence across the trading floor, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.
The market remained downbeat almost throughout the session; however, some late-session buying behaviour in sector specific stocks led the prime index to stay flat by the end of the session, it added.
Investors remained reluctant to actively participate in the market as their appetite for taking positions in equities remained subdued amid concerns regarding the market outlook owing to the rising political tensions in the country, EBL Securities continued.
Most sectors displayed mixed returns, with the jute facing the highest correction of 1.3 per cent, followed by travel (0.6 per cent) and paper (0.5 per cent), while the life insurance posted the highest gain of 0.7 per cent, followed by general insurance (0.6 per cent) and cement (0.3 per cent), according to EBL Securities.
As per the daily market review of Brac-epl Stock Brokerage, large-cap sectors posted mixed performance, with the food and allied booking the highest gain of 0.20 per cent, followed by pharmaceutical (0.01 per cent), and telecommunication (0.00 per cent), while the engineering experienced the highest loss of 0.09 per cent, followed by bank (0.08 per cent), fuel and power (0.02 per cent), and NBFI (0.01 per cent).
Aramit Limited rose 8.7 per cent to become the day’s top gainer, while Deshbandhu Polymer Limited fell 8.9 per cent becoming the worst sufferer.
Out of the securities traded, 72 advanced, 83 declined and 237 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 14.0 points and 23.2 points respectively.
