DSE turnover dips to multiyear low

Turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange slumped to a three-and-a-half-year low yesterday as investors continue to show little faith in the market.
Turnover lost 25.71 percent overnight, standing at Tk 115.72 crore, the lowest since the Tk 109.03 crore of December 17, 2008.
The DGEN, the market tracking index of DSE, finished the day at 4,272.67 points, after falling 18.13 points.
Akter H Sannamat, a market analyst, said investors' low confidence fed sharply into turnover and trade volumes. “Moreover, institutional investors are inactive in the market due to severe liquidity shortage.”
“The market is facing liquidity shortage as inflation, cost of living and high interest rates on deposits rose sharply.”
The central bank, however, he added, is contemplating lowering the interest rate on deposits to increase credit flow to the stockmarket.
“The prevailing lack of confidence in the market, coupled with risk-aversion and liquidity squeeze yielded yet another dry session,” IDLC Investments Ltd said.
Both retail and institutional investors appear to be cynical about the market prospects and prefer liquidity instead, it said.
Market analysts feel the investors are waiting on the monetary policy statement, and until then are reducing their portfolio exposure.
Retail investors want to quit the market, so whenever the market goes up they sell off their shares at the most minimum loss possible, the analysts added.
A total of 0.47 lakh trades were executed with 2.78 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands on the Dhaka bourse.
Of the 264 issues that traded on the DSE, 81 advanced, 152 declined and 31 remained unchanged.
Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company was the most traded stock of the day: 12.54 lakh shares worth Tk 7.7 crore changed hands.
Unique Hotel and Resort and Grameenphone were the next most popular stocks.
United Insurance, too, featured in the top ten gainers chart, having gained by 8.9 percent.
NLI First Mutual Fund was the worst loser of the day, plunging by 8.6 percent.