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DSEX erodes 327 points in seven straight sessions

Core index hits nearly 8-month low

FE Report | February 27, 2018 00:00:00


Stocks suffered another setback Monday, extending the losing streak for seven days in a row.

Core index of the major bourse dipped below 5,800-mark after nearly eight months.

Analysts said the market kept falling as investors remained worried about the ongoing liquidity crisis in the country's financial market.

When contacted, an analyst at a brokerage firm said, the institutional investors were mostly refrained from injecting fresh funds into the market amid fund shortage, taking the key index below 5,800-mark once again.

Meanwhile, the continuous market fall prompted the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) authority to call a press briefing on Monday. The management, however, expressed the optimism that the market would rebound soon.

The market started on a negative note which continued till end of the session amid marginal volatility in the first hour. Finally it ended more than 57 points lower.

DSEX, core index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,774.57, slumping by 57.55 points or 0.98 per cent over the previous session. It was the lowest level of DSEX since July 9, 2017.

According to DSE statistics, DSE core index eroded more than 328 points in the past seven consecutive sessions.

Two other indices of the premier bourse also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell nearly 15 points or 0.69 per cent to finish at 2,127 and DSES (Shariah) Index lost nearly 13 points or 0.93 per cent to close at 1,348.

According to EBL Securities, the market witnessed another big fall as the seventh consecutive day in a row amid day-long selling pressure.

The stockbroker noted that the market started with downbeat tune and continued till the end of the session with no sign of reversal as investors kept their cautiousness intact.

"The ongoing liquidity crisis kept investors mostly inactive, bringing the core index down to nearly eight months low," the stockbroker said.

Selling pressure was mostly spurred on stocks from telecommunication, banking and pharmaceuticals sectors, the stockbroker noted.

Bearish sentiment was also reflected on the trading activities as total turnover on the DSE amounting to Tk 3.51 billion, which was 8.59 per cent lower than the previous day's Tk 3.84 billion.

The large-cap sectors showed negative performance. The non-bank financial institutions posted the highest loss of 1.49 per cent, closely followed by engineering with 1.40 per cent, telecommunication 1.24 per cent, banking 1.22 per cent, power 0.94 per cent, pharmaceuticals 0.72 per cent and food & allied 0.10 per cent.

The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 334 issues traded, 249 closed lower, 38 closed higher and 47 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

CSE also closed lower with its CSE All Share Price Index - CAPSI- shedding more than 159 points to settle at 17,849 and elective Categories Index - CSCX - losing 94 points to finish at 10,773 points.

Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 162 issues closed lower, 31 higher and 29 remained unchanged on the CSE.

The port city bourse traded 5.82 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 150 million in turnover.

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