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DSEX slumps to nearly three months low

Turnover remains low amid liquidity crunch


FE Report | March 21, 2019 00:00:00


The prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) plummeted to nearly three months low Wednesday as continued selling binge amid liquidity crunch caused consternation among the investors.

DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 30.37 points or 0.54 per cent to finish at 5,600. It was the lowest level of DSEX since January 03, 2019.

The daily trade turnover on the prime bourse also came down to Tk 4.14 billion on Wednesday, hitting fresh three months low, as most of the investors were reluctant to make fresh investment in stocks.

Market analysts said institutional investors intensified their cautiousness amid liquidity crunch while small investors were not confident enough to inject fresh fund, taking the market turnover further low.

The institutional investors are in hands-off position as they fear of the liquidity pressure in coming days too amid soaring interest rates in the banking sector, said an analyst.

According to EBL Securities, instability in the country's banking sector amid rising bad loans and liquidity shortage coupled with soaring interest rate, taking a heavy toll on investors' mood.

The market opened on positive note and the key index rose about 33 points within first 15 minutes of trading. But, rest of the session went down until end of the session amid modest volatility.

Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 9.10 points to finish at 2005 and the DSES (Shariah) index lost 3.21 points to settle at 1,289.

The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange, ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI - shedding 42 points to settle at 17,166 while the Selective Categories Index - CSCX -losing 25 points to finish at 10,406.

Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 122 issues closed lower, 81 ended higher and 28 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse traded 4.18 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 114 million in turnover.

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