DSE’s key index plunges below 6,500 points

Dhaka stocks underwent a massive erosion yesterday, with a dearth of buyers and panicked investors pressing for sales pulling the index below 6,500 points again after one and a half months.

Throughout the trading period, there was no buyer for most of the shares as apprehensions were running high that the index may fall further, But this was prevented by the stock market regulator, according to market analysts.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) launched a circuit breaker last month to activate in case of a 2 per cent share price drop, all to prevent the market from going on a free fall.

"General investors are in panic, so they are trying to sell shares that pushed down the market," said a stockbroker.

In some cases, stock brokers and merchant bankers sold shares as the margin loan-based stocks dropped by a huge extent and they needed to sell shares to adjust the margin.

The market is driven by stocks that fall victim to manipulation, so stocks with good performance records were bearish over the past couple of weeks, hurting thoughtful investors, he said.

Though the index was in a falling trend, the manipulators were active, he added.

International Leasing Securities said the stock market witnessed another massive fall and recorded the lowest turnover in the last one year.

The jittery investors went on a heavy sell-off to avoid further erosion of their portfolios.

Some of the investors were stuck with heavy losses in their portfolios and could not shrug it off, it added.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, plunged 72 points, or 1.10 per cent, to 6,482 at the end of the day. This is lowest point to be reached since March 8, when the index dropped to 6,474 points.

The DS30, the blue-chip index, and DSES, the Shariah-based index, lost 25.32 points and 13.55 points respectively.

Turnover too dropped to Tk 390 crore from Tk 393 crore the previous day.

According to the turnover, investors' attention was mainly concentrated on miscellaneous (24.8 per cent), pharmaceuticals and chemicals (12 per cent) and bank (11.6 per cent).

All the sectors witnessed price corrections including paper & printing (1.9 per cent), travel and leisure (1.8 per cent) and services and real estate (1.8 per cent).

At the DSE, 14 stocks advanced, 347 declined and 19 remained the same.

JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing topped the gainers' list with a rise of about 7.96 per cent. Eastland Insurance, Meghna Pet Industries, Kattali Textiles and Bata Shoe also saw major gains.

Pioneer Insurance shed the most with a 2 per cent drop. Mir Akhter Hossain, Prime Textiles, Central Insurance and C&A Textiles were among those suffering heavy losses.

JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing became the stock to be traded the most, with shares worth Tk 73 crore changing hands, followed by LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, Kattali Textiles, Square Pharmaceuticals and Beximco.

Chittagong Stock Exchange also fell yesterday. The CASPI, the main index of the CSE, plummeted 172 points, or 0.89 per cent, to close the day at 19,130.

Of the 266 stocks to undergo trade, 24 rose, 125 fell, and 17 did not see any price movement.