Core index dips below 4,900-mark on selling binge

The benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) tumbled below 4,900-mark on Sunday as risk-averse investors went on sell-offs on major sectors' shares.
The market opened on negative note and the downturn continued until end of the session with no sign of reversal.
Finally, DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 37.29 points or 0.76 per cent to settle at 10 sessions low to 4,867.
Market analysts said many investors disposed of shares of other companies to apply for forthcoming initial public offerings which kept the market depressed for the past few sessions.
Five large-cap stocks - United Power, Beximco, Grameenphone, Beximco Pharma and BATBC-- contributed the most to index correction.
As three IPOs, one is the largest ever -- Robi Axiata, hit the market within a few days, many investors disposed of shares of other companies to join the IPO bonanza, said a leading merchant banker.
However, the bargain hunters were active on stocks which declared satisfactory earnings while some rebalanced their portfolio based on the latest corporate declarations.
According to EBL Securities, most of the investors sold their holdings mainly from insurance stocks as the price of the sector issues reached at an exorbitant level whereas bargain hunters favoured new positions in the mutual funds' units.
The mutual fund sector backed on the gaining streak as nine out of top 10 gainers belong to the mutual fund sector. The mutual fund sector gained 7.80 per cent and prices of all mutual funds' units closed higher.
Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, lost 15.06 points to finish at 1,696 and the DSE Shariah Index shed 2.84 points to close at 1,114.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, crossed the Tk 11 billion-mark after 11 sessions, amounting to Tk 11.98 billion, which was 21 per cent higher than the previous day's turnover of Tk 9.88 billion.
Most of the major sectors faced correction with general insurance witnessed the highest erosion of 4.50 per cent, followed by engineering with 2.90 per cent, financial institutions 1.70 per cent, power 0.50 per cent, telecom 0.40 per cent and banking 0.10 per cent.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 350 issues traded, 167 ended lower, 99 closed higher and 84 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 169,542 trades were executed in the day's trading session with a trading volume of 516.38 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market capitalisation of DSE also fell to Tk 3,960 billion on Sunday, from Tk 3,984 billion in the previous session.
Beximco Pharma continued to dominate the turnover chart with 5.30 million shares worth Tk 741 million changing hands, followed by Beximco, Square Pharma, Grameenphone and Trust Bank first Mutual Fund.
AB Bank First Mutual Fund was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent while Hamid Fabrics was the worst loser, losing 9.61 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended lower with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)-losing 121 points to close at 13,946 while the Selective Categories Index - CSCX shedding 71 points to close at 8,398.
Of the issues traded, 77 advanced, 126 declined and 60 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 18.54 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 310 million.

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