Dhaka stocks dipped Sunday as the investors remained sceptical about re-investing because of persisting downtrend in stock prices over the last couple of months.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) opened with a subdued mood and never regained as investors pushed away stocks towards close of the trade.
The market failed to get back its rhythm as the institutional investors, considered the major market player, mostly remained inactive, said a source in the DSE.
All the market barometers - the benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN), All Shares Price Index and DSE-20 - fell 57.93 points, 49.95 points and 19.57 points to close at 2674.07, 2295.64 and 2471.06 respectively.
Today's slump was the result of the negative sentiment which was dogged by fears about further slide in indices, according to the market operators and experts. "The market has been suffering from confidence crisis due to losing huge funds put on mutual fund stocks. The investors are not reinvesting as they feel the index might go down further," said a stock broker.
Commenting on the recent market trend, chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Faruq Ahmad Siddiqi told the FE that normality was prevailing in the market now.
"So, there is nothing to be worried about. The market will be back on track before long," he hoped.
He, however, said, "There are fund constraints in the market as a substantial amount of fund have been pulled out by the Titas Gas. But it is temporary. It takes time for fresh fund to flow into the market."
About confidence crisis stemming from frequent intervention of the securities regulator, he said, "I don't think so. The market is now totally free from any intervention."
The total turnover continued to slide to Tk 2.62 billion against the previous day's Tk 2.73 billion. The losers outshined the gainers as out of 225 issues traded, 26 advanced, 190 declined and nine remained changed.
The total market capitalisation also declined to Tk 936.02 billion against Tk 951.99 billion.
A total of 1434150 shares of Titas Gas worth Tk 520.30 million were sold at the prime bourse. Share prices of Titas, the top turnover leader accounted for over 19 per cent of the total turnover, posting a fall of 6.54 per cent to end at Tk 357.00 per share.
A total of over 8.48 million shares out of the total offloaded 21.42 million of the gas distribution company was sold both at the DSE and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE).
Stock prices of Square Pharma gained 2.69 per cent to end at Tk 3954.00 per share, making it the top second turnover leader with shares worth Tk 191.26 million traded.
Beximco Pharma, ACI Limited, Beximco Limited, Islami Bank, Square Textile, Lanka Bangla Finance, Keya Cosmetics and BATBC were the other turnover leaders on the day.
Stock prices of the Agni System Limited was the top gainer with a rise of 9.86 per cent in its stock prices, followed by Modern Industries 9.33 per cent, Monno Jute Stafflers 8.85 per cent, ICB 8.68 per cent, Islami Bank 7.26 per cent and United Insurance 6.64 per cent.
Social Investment Bank Limited was the biggest loser with a fall of 20.02 per cent, Federal Insurance 19.74 per cent, Rupali Insurance 10.86 per cent, Reliance Insurance 10.11 per cent and Amam Sea Food 9.33 per cent.
