Nervy investors send stocks into a tailspin

Stocks tumbled for the third day, as investors look to be jilted by the unremarkable half-yearly performance of many listed companies.
DGEN, the benchmark General Index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, finished the day at 4,118.42 points, after dropping 40.74 points, or 0.97 percent.
“Investor confidence will naturally be shaken by the poor dividend announcements, which will hold them back from undertaking long-term investments,” said Rakibur Rahman, president of DSE, adding that long-term investment is crucial for market's vigour.
Mohammad A Hafiz, president of Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association, said the banks' poor corporate declarations particularly triggered the mass sell-off.
IDLC Investments too is in agreement with Hafiz's views, saying that financial institutions' unimpressive performance “critically deteriorated investors' confidence”.
The market appears to be going through a bear-run anticipating a further drop in prices, IDLC said in its daily market commentary.
“Most of the companies are disclosing their half-yearly earnings, and most of them are less than encouraging,” LankaBangla Securities said.
The banking sector's performance faltered this term, due to the excess provisioning demanded by the regulatory authority, according to LankaBangla.
Turnover stood at Tk 199 crore, a 10.99 percent fall from the previous day.
A total of 0.66 lakh trades were executed, with 5.59 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands on the Dhaka bourse.
Of the 263 issues that traded on the DSE floor, 104 declined, 149 advanced and 11 remained unchanged.
Non-bank financial institutions that dropped 2.33 percent led the major sectors' fall, followed by engineering, power and banks, which declined 1.66 percent, 1.1 percent and 0.99 percent.
Non-life insurance, however, went up 1.55 percent.
Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company was the most traded stock of the day, thanks to transactions of 17.82 lakh shares worth Tk 12.92 crore, with RN Spinning Mills and LankaBangla Finance taking the new two positions.
ICM AMCL First Mutual Fund was the biggest gainer of the day, which rose by 12.65 percent, while ICB AMCL NRB Third Mutual Fund headed the top losers' chart, slumping by 13.79 percent.