DSEX sinks below 4,400 points
Dhaka stocks after some three and a half years again went below 4,400 points yesterday, triggering panic among investors.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange’s (DSE) benchmark index -- the DSEX -- dropped 36.51 points, or 0.82 percent, to close the day at 4,394.44.
Market insiders said foreign investors were selling a lot of shares and it had the biggest impact on the market. Local investors are also in panic for which the index has been falling continuously.
The top contributor to the index’s fall was British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB), which alone ate away 3 points.
Foreign investors mostly hold blue-chip stocks which fell on a greater extent in the past few months, said a stock broker.
The DS30, the DSE’s blue-chip index, fell 7.05 points to 1494.54, a six-year low, according to the DSE data.
The stock broker said although the finance minister had assured that the local currency would not be devalued, foreign investors have continued selling their stakes apprehending a disruption in the country’s macroeconomic stability.
A merchant banker said most of the institutional investors were not investing money and had adopted a wait-and-see approach. So, the market is not getting any support, he said, adding that general investors would regain their confidence once the market starts to rise.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also fell 2.8 percent to Tk 263.48 crore.
Square Pharmaceuticals topped the turnover list with shares worth Tk 11.58 crore being traded, followed by Khulna Power Company, Golden Harvest, Grameenphone and Beacon Pharmaceuticals.
Of the traded issues, 68 advanced, 234 dropped and 52 remained unchanged.
Chittagong stocks also fell with the bourse’s benchmark index, the CSCX, declining 58.58 points, or 0.71 percent.
Losers beat gainers as 151 securities declined, 56 advanced and 32 finished unchanged on Chittagong Stock Exchange.
The port city bourse traded shares and mutual fund units amounting to Tk 9.30 crore.
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