DSE key index dips to two-month low

Stocks nosedived for the fifth straight session on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the core index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) dipped to two-month low.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down further by 67.49 points or 1.25 per cent to settle at 5,317, which was two months lowest level since December 24, last year.
The benchmark index lost more than 226 points in the past five consecutive sessions.
Market analysts said the shaky investors continued their sell-offs in major stocks as a lack of positive triggers prevented investors from making fresh investment.
The market remained under pressure in the past few weeks along with sluggish turnover as investors stayed cautious ahead of dividend declaration by December-end companies, said a merchant banker.
He noted that pressure on margin loans adjustment to regulatory allowable limit, Bangladesh Bank's circular regarding dividend limit of banks coupled with price fall of large-cap stocks continued to put a negative impact on the market.
Business conglomerate Beximco Group companies continued to face selling pressure as Beximco lost 7.82 per cent, heavyweight drug maker Beximco Pharma 4.48 per cent and Shinepukur Ceramic lost 5.24 per cent. All three featured in the day's top loser's list.
Robi, which faced massive sell pressure in the past few days after no dividend declaration, rebounded in gaining streak on Tuesday with 3.80 per cent rise.
The equity market impeded under selling pressure as investors' appetite remained subdued amid a bearish sentiment, commented EBL Securities.
According to International Leasing Securities, the shaky investors continued their sell-offs on miscellaneous, pharma, engineering, food, financial institution and banking sector stocks.
The stockbroker noted that the bargain hunters tried to upturn in mid-session but active presence of the wobbly investors pushed down the DSEX for the five straight sessions.
Top negative index contributors were Beximco, Square Pharma, British American Tobacco, Grameenphone, Beximco Pharma, Brac Bank and Walton, contributing roughly 68 points fall of DSEX jointly, according to data from amarstock.com, a stock market data analyst.
Two other indices also kept losing with the DSE 30 Index comprising blue chips, lost 39.83 points to finish at 2,017 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) dropped 15.31 points to close at 1,206.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 5.91 billion on the country's premier bourse, rising by 26 per cent over the previous day's seven-month lowest turnover of Tk 4.67 billion.
Among the major sectors, miscellaneous faced the highest hit, losing 4.0 per cent, followed by pharma with 1.6 per cent, engineering 1.3 per cent, food 1.2 per cent, financial institutions 0.80 per cent and banking 0.40 per cent.
On the other hand, IT, telecom and power sectors gained 1.10 per cent, 0.40 per cent and 0.10 per cent respectively.
Of the 339 issues traded, 156 declined, 66 advanced and 117 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco continued to dominate the turnover chart with shares worth over Tk 1.84 billion changing hands followed by BATBC, Beximco Pharma, LankaBangla Finance and Robi.
GBB Power was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 5.53 per cent while NCC Bank Mutual Find-1 was the worst loser, losing 10 per cent following its price adjustment after record date.
A total number of 110,508 trades were executed in the day's trading session with a trading volume of 136.77 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of DSE also fell to Tk 4,570 billion on Tuesday, down from Tk 4,600 billion in the previous day.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also kept losing with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -shedding 181 points to settle at 15,383 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX losing 110 points to close at 9,278.
Of the issues traded, 99 declined, 45 advanced and 51 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city's bourse traded 5.84 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 265 million.

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