Dhaka stocks fell sharply on Sunday after Thursday’s heavy gains as investors remained jittery about the outcome of the legal battle over the mandatory shareholding rule for the listed company directors.
DGEN, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 1.47 per cent, or 74.81 points, to close the day at 5,001.81 points.
The DGEN gained 175.02 points on Thursday after losing 168.68 points on Wednesday and 98.62 points on Tuesday amid tensions over the outcome of the legal battle over the mandatory shareholding rule.
Sunday’s turnover also dropped to Tk 389.88 crore from that of Tk 421.45 crore in the day before.
Of the 265 issues traded on the day, 35 advanced, 210 declined, and 20 remained unchanged.
Market operators said investors were still sceptical about the outcome of the legal battle over mandatory share holding rule issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission late last year.
Investors’ worries intensified last week following repeated writ petitions filed by several directors against the SEC rule of holding 2 per cent shares individually and 30 per cent jointly in their respective companies by May 21.
The market gained sharply on Thursday after one of the writ petitioners of Phoenix Finance, A Qudir Chudhury, announced to withdraw him from a joint petition filed against the SEC rule, they said.
But the market did not respond accordingly when another director of Phoenix Finance, Razia Younus, also announced to withdraw from the writ petition on Sunday, they said.
Last week, two writ petitions were filed by 13 directors of two companies challenging the SEC rule of mandatory shareholding.
The first petition was filed in early April by a directorship applicant of NCC Bank and the second one was filed by a director of Popular Life Insurance.
‘Today’s trading looks unusual. It is hard to figure out what has pushed the investors to sell off on the day,’ said a DSE stockbroker.
‘We have rather expected a rise today or at least a flat market,’ he also said.
All the sectors closed lower on Thursday except cement that gained 1.18 per cent. Three cement companies featured on the top gainer’s list on the day.
Among the major sectors, power lost 2.14 per cent, followed by pharmaceuticals that lost 1.74 per cent.
Non-bank financial institutions lost 1.67 per cent, telecommunication lost 1.63 per cent and banks lost 0.98 per cent on the day.
Meanwhile, the trading of shares of Padma Oil Company Ltd will resume today [Monday] with adjusted price of Tk. 488.80, said a DSE news post on Sunday.
There will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the company today following its corporate declaration for the year ended on June 30, 2011.
The trading of Padma shares had been remained suspended since March 30 due to complexities over the dividend declaration by the company.
-With New Age input
