Stocks suffered loss for 12 running sessions with the prime index of Dhaka bourse plunging to the lowest level in one year on Thursday, as selling frenzy of worried investors was going on unabated.
Market operators said the investors are in selling spree, fearing further fall of stock prices amid ongoing pessimism coupled with disappointing earnings from most of the banks.
"The investors' confidence on the market remains low, as prevailing pessimism coupled with dissatisfactory earnings of banks continued taking toll on the market," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
Since beginning of the year, indices have been on the downward direction, with some periodic upward movements, which failed to sustain.
During the fall in 12 consecutive sessions, the longest-ever bearish spell, the prime index lost more than 370 points or 6.36 per cent.
"The market continued to fall, as institutional investors, considered major market players, could not support the market due to liquidity crisis," President of DSE Brokers Association Mostaque Ahmed Sadeque told the FE.
"We urged Bangladesh Bank (BB) to relax the banks' capital market exposure limit, considering the present situation. But the central bank is yet to take any decision in this regard."
He also urged the government to strengthen investment capacity of Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) to support the moribund capital market.
On Thursday, the market started with a downward movement, which continued till end of the session with no sign of reversal. Finally, the core index of the major bourse lost more than 68 points at closing, while CSE All Share Price Index shed 214 points.
DSEX, the DSE benchmark index, went down by 68.45 points or 1.24 per cent to settle at nearly one-year-low of 5,443. It was the lowest level of DSEX since June 1, 2017.
"The ongoing bearish trend and disappointing quarterly earnings declarations of most of the companies continued to prompt investors to liquidate their holdings," commented International Leasing Securities, in its regular market analysis.
The two other indices of the premier bourse also saw sharp fall. DS30 index, comprising blue chips, plunged 30 points to finish at 2,025 and DSES (Shariah index) lost 13 points to settle at 1,277.
However, turnover increased on the day, as the total turnover on the major bourse amounted to Tk 4.92 billion, 24 per cent higher than the previous day's turnover of Tk 3.95 billion.
Prices of 76 per cent traded issues declined, as out of the 336 issues traded, 254 closed lower, 44 ended higher and 38 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Intraco Refuelling Station, which made its share trading debut on Thursday, topped the DSE turnover chart with shares worth Tk 443 million changing hands.
It was closely followed by Bangladesh Steel Re-rolling Mills, Western Marine Shipyard, United Power and Beximco.
Queen South Textile was the day's highest gainer, posting a gain of 9.80 per cent, while Prime Life Insurance was the day's worst loser, losing 6.36 per cent.
Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also saw sharp decline with CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI - slumping 214 points to settle at 16,804, and Selective Categories Index - CSCX - losing 128 points to finish at 10,159.
Here too, the losers beat the gainers, as 179 issues closed lower, 26 ended higher and 20 remained unchanged on CSE.
The port-city bourse traded 12.02 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 514 million in turnover.
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