Breaking the single-day rise, the equity indices of the premier bourse – Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) – plunged into red territory on Wednesday as investors turned back to the selling mode owing to the dampened confidence across the trading floor.
The waning market momentum coupled with the prevailing macroeconomic and political concerns put investors into dismay and that’s why they were trying to safeguard their funds by offloading their holdings, stockbrokers said.
The DSEX, the broad index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), fell below the 6,300-mark again by losing 18.6 points yesterday to settle at 6,297.
Turnover, another crucial market indicator, however, rose by 8.6 per cent to Tk 419 crore against the tally of Tk 386 crore in the previous session.
The food and allied sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 17.4 per cent of the total turnover of the Dhaka bourse, followed by pharma (11.7 per cent) and general insurance (10.6 per cent).
Fu Wang Food Ltd was the most traded stock with Tk 27 crore worth of its shares changing hands, followed by Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries Limited, and Legacy Footwear Ltd.
The market observed a downbeat vibe throughout the session as sellers regained control and continued to liquidate their holdings to reduce their capital market exposure amid prolonged volatility in the market, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.
Most sectors displayed dismal returns, with the general insurance facing the highest correction of 2.5 per cent, followed by life insurance (2.1 per cent) and travel (1.7 per cent), while the jute posted the highest gain of 1.8 per cent, followed by fuel and power (0.1 per cent).
As per the daily market review of Brac-epl Stock Brokerage, large-cap sectors posted mixed performance yesterday, with the fuel and power booking the highest gain of 0.10 per cent, followed by pharmaceutical, and telecommunication, while the bank experienced the highest loss of 0.23 per cent, followed by engineering (0.14 per cent), food and allied (0.11 per cent), and NBFI (0.04 per cent).
Ambee Pharmaceuticals PLC rose 7.5 per cent to become the day’s top gainer, while Deshbandhu Polymer Limited fell 9.9 per cent becoming the worst sufferer.
Out of the securities traded, 37 advanced, 130 declined and 225 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) – declined by 23.3 points and 39.6 points respectively.
