DSE key index sinks below 6000-mark

Stocks witnessed yet another setback this week, with the prime index of the Dhaka bourse tumbling to three-year low, as jittery investors dumped their holdings to avoid further erosion of their portfolio.
Analysts said the market was already bearish after withdrawal of 'floor price' from the largest and second largest market-cap stocks, while technical glitches dampened investors' confidence further.
Prolonged bearish trend frustrated general investors as stocks saw a free-fall from the very beginning of the week and all five trading days faced price erosion.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, finally plunged below 6,000-mark after three years to settle at 5,968.04, shedding 144.72 points or 2.37 per cent over the week before.
The DSEX has lost a cumulative 407 points in the last five straight weeks.
Top index draggers were Beacon Pharma, BAT Bangladesh, Beximco Pharma, Renata and Grameenphone as they jointly accounted for 52 points of the weekly index fall.
After the 'floor price' removal, GP and BAT Bangladesh stocks saw massive selloffs as investors wanted to get rid of their holdings that remained stuck on the floor for a long period of time.
BAT Bangladesh alone accounted for around 13-point fall in the DSE key index while GP contributed more than 5-points fall this week.
Massive share price erosion of large-cap stocks shed Tk 492 billion market-cap of the DSE in a single-week.
The total market-cap of the DSE was Tk 7,488 billion on the opening day this week, which came down to Tk 6,996 billion on Thursday.
The market cap is calculated by multiplying the total number of a company's outstanding shares with the current market price of shares.
"The relentless bearish spell extended for continuous sessions as sellers maintained their dominance in all the sessions of the week as risk-averse investors opted to protect their funds from the ailing market," said EBL Securities, in its weekly analysis.
The stockbroker noted that the stock index fell to a nearly 3-year low as investors continued to reduce their capital market exposure due to dwindling confidence stemming from the prevailing uncertainty regarding the market momentum.
Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, which consists of blue-chip companies, plunged almost 43 points to 2,051 while the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, lost 36 points to 1,299.
Reduced trading time during the holy month of Ramadan, along with investors' reluctance to put fresh funds into stocks amid lack of clear market outlook led to sharp fall of turnover this week.
The total turnover stood at Tk 27.94 billion this week as against Tk 40.53 billion in the week before.
Accordingly, the average daily turnover stood at Tk 5.58 billion, which was 31 per cent lower than the previous week's average of Tk 8.10 billion.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 401 issues traded, 301 saw price erosion, 69 witnessed price appreciation and 31 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
The engineering sector dominated the turnover chart, capturing more than 18 cent of the week's total turnover, followed by pharmaceuticals (14 per cent) and food (13 per cent).
All sectors saw price erosion with the paper & printing sector suffering the most, losing 7 per cent, followed by ceramic, general insurance, food, life insurance, power and bank.
Low-cap stocks dominated the weekly turnover list with Fu-Wang Ceramic becoming the most traded shares, with shares worth Tk 1.60 billion changing hands, followed by Golden Son, Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-Cream, Orion Infusion and SS Steel.
Newly listed Asiatic Laboratories was the week's top gainer, posting 60.33 per cent rise while Karnaphuli Insurance was the worst loser, shedding 23.01 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also saw sharp decline with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI) losing 460 points to 17,090 and the Selective Categories Index (CSCX) shedding 274 points to 10,261.
Of the issues traded, 244 declined, 63 advanced and 21 others remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 26.27 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 749 million.

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