Dhaka stocks continued to plunge for the second week as investors went for sell-offs amid political unrest and poor dividend declaration by banks.
Last week, DSEX, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 4.72 per cent, or 173.80 points, to close at 3,507.86 points.The DSEX lost 348 points in the last two weeks after gaining 23.54 points in the previous two.
Average daily turnover of the bourse remained flat advancing by 0.38 per cent in the week to Tk 145.61 crore from the previous week’s Tk 145.06 crore.
The blue-chip index of the bourse, DS30, declined by 4.01 per cent, or 54.82 points, to end at 1,310.96 points.
The old benchmark general index of the bourse, DGEN, declined by 3.62 per cent, or 137.25 points, to close at 3,657.04 points.
The DGEN hit a three-and-a-half-year low on Monday at 3,610.42 points, lowest since November 15, 2009 when the index was at 3,383.23 points.
Market operators said investors became panicky following a free fall in share prices which was prompted by the ongoing political unrest and poor performance by good companies.
They said the current political situation was discouraging for the investors.
They also said that poor dividend declaration by the banks also deepened investors’ frustration.
‘There is no single positive news that can make the investors optimistic. In this political and economic situation, it is normal for the market to fall,’ said a stockbroker.
He said though the price level was very low, people were not enthusiastic to buy shares.
‘Despite low price investors are reluctant to buy shares as they fear that market will fall further,’ he said.
Another stockbroker said the institutional investors were also sitting idle due to the political uncertainty which made the retail investors more panicky.
‘As institutions are large investors they will not take the risk of injecting fresh funds into the market in this situation,’ he said.
He also said the foreign investors were also cutting down their investment for the same reason.
Share of the 287 companies and mutual funds traded last week where 37 advanced, 242 declined, and eight remained unchanged.
All the major sectors ended in red except telecommunications that managed to gain 0.17 per cent for the second consecutive week.
Banks and non-bank financial institutions lost the highest 7.06 per cent and 5.77 per cent respectively following poor dividend declaration by half of the listed banks.
Pharmaceuticals and fuel and power declined by 1.86 per cent and by 0.99 per cent respectively.
Orion Pharma topped the turnover leaders’ list last week with its shares worth Tk 46.29 crore changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were United Airways, Premier Cement, Unique Hotel, Lafarge Surma Cement, Summit Purbanchol Power Company, Argon Denims, Beximco, RN Spinning and Global Heavy Chemical.
-With New Age input
