Selling pressure brings down DGEN to three-month low

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FE Report
The benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) sank to nearly three-month low Sunday amid heavy selling pressure, allegedly, triggered by some top merchant bankers.
The DSE General Index (DGEN) shed 63.90 points to close at 2684.68, the lowest since August 11 last.
Two other market barometers-All Shares Price Index (DSI) and DSE-20 comprising blue chips - also shed 49.93 points and 42.90 points to end at 2228.21 and 2309.00 respectively. Most of the share prices fell on the day. Out of 225 issues traded, 195 declined, 26 advanced and four remained unchanged.
Some top merchant bankers, according to market insiders, advised their clients to dispose of their shares saying that the market might slip further.
However, an official of the top merchant bank, requesting not to be named, dismissed the allegation and said some vested quarters are unnecessarily blaming the merchant banks to take advantage of the situation.
"We'll not do anything that would hurt the interests of our clients. Rather, we always try to protect them in any turbulent situation," he added.
He said, "If you closely follow the market behaviour over the last two months, you will see some sponsors of banks and financial institutions have been continuously selling their stocks and taking away a substantial amount of funds from the market. This is contributing to crisis of fund in the market."
Delineating the sentiment of retail investors, a stockbroker said, "Confused over the market behaviour, investors (retail investors) are in a selling mood to avoid further loss."
None from the Securities and Exchange Commission was available for comment.
The day's total turnover, however, rose to Tk 2.49 billion from Thursday's Tk 2.34 billion while the market capitalisation declined to Tk 966.97 billion from Tk 986.23 billion of previous trading day.
Beximco Pharma continued to be the top turnover leader with shares worth Tk 257.68 million traded.
Other turnover leaders on the day were Beximco Limited, Titas Gas, ACI Limited, Square Pharma, Islami Bank, Uttara Bank, Summit Alliance Port Limited and AIMS First Mutual Fund.
Anlima Yarn, the top gainer, gained 22.96 per cent, followed by ICB 10.00 per cent, Sajib Knitting 9.78 per cent, BD Dyeing 5.26 per cent and Rupali Bank 4.79 per cent.
Atlas Bangladesh, Usmania Glass, AMCL (Pran), BD Luggage, Hakkani Pulp and Paper, BD Online Limited, Metro Spinning and Golden Son were the top losers on the day.