Dhaka stocks inched down on Sunday when the late sales pressure faded the early gains as investors still remained sceptical about the market condition despite several measures taken by regulators and stakeholders to stabilise the market.
The benchmark general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, or DGEN, on Sunday lost 0.14 per cent, or 8.45 points, to close the day at 5,901.74 points.
In the three-week bear run that started on Sept 4, the DGEN lost 549 points amid severe volatility and liquidity crisis.
Turnover at the bourse, however, increased to Tk 427.70 crore compared to that of Tk 361.87 crore in the previous day.
Market operators noted ‘lack of confidence’ was the key reason for the market failing to recover from the depression.
Shares of a number of companies have reached to attractive prices according to their fundamentals but still put up a ‘no buyer’ signboard.
DSE president Shakil Rizvi said, ‘The investors did not regain their confidence in the market fully and many of them want to leave for good. So when the market keeps afloat for two or more days a sell pressure from this section of investors pushed the market down.’
He also said some investors went for profit taking to cash on in the up market as it remained in a downtrend for long.
‘The investors, hopefully, will regain the confidence as all the stakeholders are trying their best to stabilise the market,’ he added.
A stockbroker said, ‘The proactive role of Salman F Rahman, president of Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies, had put large investors and institutional ones in a dilemma as they want to be clear about his upcoming ventures before going into investment.’
‘As he was allegedly involved with the stock market scam in 1996, and was also mentioned as a suspected mastermind behind the 2011 crash, retail investors are also sceptical,’ the broker said, seeking anonymity.
The BAPLC president last week announced that sponsors/directors of the listed companies would buy shares of their respective companies to support the market. In line with the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, he also declared to launch an asset management company that will deal with margin loan portfolios by transferring those into mutual fund units.
Trading on the DSE started positively as the index shot up gaining 73 points in first ten minutes of trading on the day. Without a downtrend for 15 minutes, the DGEN continued to climb up for the next one hour.
But after the first hour, the market started to crawl down which intensified in the closing hours and the DGEN ended up on a negative territory.
Of the 262 issues traded on Sunday, 140 advanced, 108 declined, and 14 remained unchanged despite the DGEN lost value marginally on the day.
Banks, the most weighted sector of DSE, were the worst losers on the day, shedding 0.60 per cent. Among other major sectors, non-bank financial institutions lost 0.17 per cent, pharmaceuticals 0.23 per cent, and fuel and power 0.22 per cent, while telecommunication gained 0.31 per cent.
Lafarge Surma Cement was the highest traded issue on the day with its shares worth Tk 26.45 crore changing hands. The other top 10 turnover leaders were Summit Power, Beximco Pharma, Beximco, MI Cements, Beximco Synthetics, Malek Spinning, Keya Cosmetics, CMC Kamal and Square Pharmaceuticals.
-With New Age input
