Investors demonstrate
Dhaka stocks plunged on Tuesday to make it five straight sessions in the red as the investors, panicked by the recent decline in shares prices, went for sell-offs.
A section of investors on the day staged a demonstration in front of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission demanding government initiatives to revive the market.They also placed an eight-point demand before BSEC chairman M Khairul Hossain.
‘We are again losing our money in the stock market as a group of people have intentionally increased the sell pressure to pull down the market. The regulator should take necessary steps to stop them,’ said an investor.
The benchmark general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, declined to 3,929.57 points on the day, shedding 3.08 per cent, or 125.17 points.
The DSEX started the day on a positive note by gaining 20 points in the first five minutes, but it reached 15 points in the red in the next 10 minutes.
The market again entered the positive zone after 30 minutes of trading, but could not sustain it due to huge sell pressure.
The DSEX has now lost 366.26 points in the last five trading sessions after gaining 89.23 points in the earlier two.
Fall in shares prices due to profit-making moves by the investors ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr is traditional but it started much earlier following media reports that the government had taken steps to offload shares of state-owned entities and that the manipulation in the market had increased, said market operators.
Despite supporting attempts from the state-owned entities and two other merchant banks, the market ended in the negative zone due to the sell-off pressure, they added.
The capital market regulators should also find out if any section of the investors had tried to pull down the market intentionally, they said.
DGEN, the old key index of the bourse, lost 3.08 per cent, or 134.28 points, to finish at 4,224.36 points.
The DGEN has now lost 550.84 points in the last five trading sessions after gaining 171.75 points in the earlier two.
The blue chip index of the bourse, DS30, closed at 1,435.06 points, shedding 4.06 per cent, or 60.73 points.
The DGEN hit a five-year low of 4,116.25 points on January 21 due to intense liquidity crisis in the capital market.
Sudden investment inflows, mostly from the banking sector, gave rise to a boom in 2010 as the DGEN skyrocketed by 82.87 per cent to 8,290.41 points, with the peak of 8,918.51 points reached on December 5.
But just two months later the DGEN came down from 8,723.18 points on December 1, 2010 to 7,572.61 points on January 30, 2011.
The aftershock of the crash has been continuing since then as the DGEN had lost 3,032 points in 2011 and 1,038 points in 2012.
The turnover of the bourse increased to Tk 438.90 crore from that of the previous session’s Tk 432.78 crore.
Among the 287 shares and mutual funds traded on the day, 31 advanced, 241 declined and 15 remained unchanged.
‘Seemingly, recent developments in the political arena had been working to dive the market further. Last five consecutive sessions’ total plunge of 550.84 points was well enough to shed off recent one and half months’ rally. Throughout the session, investors were searching for meticulous comfort zone,’ IDLC Investments said in its daily market commentary.
Meghna Petroleum led the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk 35.61 crore changing hands.
While Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, Padma Oil, Jamuna Oil, Grameenphone, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, Olympic Industries and Square Pharma followed the chart.
Sixth ICB Mutual Fund gained the most on the day as the price of its shares increased by 8.74 per cent while Green Delta lost the most, shedding 9.88 per cent.
-With New Age input
