DSEX sheds 142 points in five days as selling of large-caps weighs

Stocks witnessed yet another major fall on Tuesday, as jittery investors continued to offload large-cap shares, particularly BAT Bangladesh and Grameenphone, after their floor prices were lifted by the securities regulator.
GP is the largest market-cap stocks while BAT Bangladesh is the second most-valued stock.
Market experts said withdrawal of the floor price for these two heavyweight stocks coupled with downgrading of six more stocks to the 'Z' category intensified the ongoing market fall.
BAT Bangladesh saw Tk 42 billion wiped out from its market-cap in the past two days while GP's market-cap lost Tk 46 billion in the past three days.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission removed the floor price from GP on Sunday while BAT Bangladesh's floor was lifted on Monday, which was imposed 18 months back.
The investors who remained stuck to the floor price for a long time continued their sell-offs to safeguard their investment from further erosion, said a stockbroker.
The stock of BAT Bangladesh tumbled 8.13 per cent to Tk 440.8 on Tuesday. Its stock also slid 7.50 per cent on Monday, the first day of the removal of the floor price.
BAT Bangladesh's price erosion alone accounted for more than 52-point fall in the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange in the past two trading days.
Meanwhile, GP, whose floor price was lifted on Sunday, lost 1.70 per cent further to Tk 252.6 on Tuesday. GP investors lost Tk 34 per share in the past three days, resulting in a 21.5-point fall in DSEX in three days.
The withdrawal of the floor price for GP and BAT Bangladesh resulted in a significant fall of the prime index of the DSE as their price fall impacted much on the index due to their large market-cap, said the stockbroker.
The benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange went down by 44 points or 0.71 per cent to close at Tk 6,131 on Tuesday, the lowest in more than a month.
The DSEX lost about 142 points in the past five trading days whereas GP and BAT Bangladesh accounted for 73 points fall of the index in the past three days.
Stocks faced a significant fall due to a substantial sell-off by shaky investors, while rumors surrounding the potential withdrawal of floor prices for other large-cap stocks deepened uncertainty on the trading floor, said EBL Securities.
The BSEC removed floor price from most of the stocks on January 18 this year.
The floor price is still applicable to 6 companies -- Beximco, Bangladesh Steel Re-rolling, Islami Bank, Khulna Power, Meghna Petroleum, and Shahjibazar Power.
Six new stocks downgraded to the 'Z' category on Sunday, intensified the market downturn.
Sellers dominated the trading floor as investors focused on protecting their funds from the ailing market owing to faded optimism, said the leading broker.
However, he said investors may bet for the large-cap stocks when their stocks come to a rational price level.
Two other indices also closed lower. The DS30 index, which consists of blue-chip companies, lost 10.6 points to 2,097 while the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, dropped more than 4 points to 1,340.
The turnover stood at Tk 8.44 billion, up 6.30 per cent over the previous day's tally of Tk 7.64 billion.
Food & allied sector dominated the turnover chart, capturing 18.4 per cent of the day's total turnover, followed by pharma (15.6 per cent) and general insurance (10.6 per cent).
Food & allied sector saw the highest loss of 5.30 per cent, followed by non-bank financial institutions with 1.40 per cent, telecom 1.16 per cent, engineering 0.90 per cent, pharma 0.48 per cent and banking 0.17 per cent.
Losers took a strong lead over gainers, as out of 397 issues traded, 232 saw prices fall, 102 witnessed price appreciation and 63 remained unchanged.
City General Insurance became the most-traded shares, with shares worth Tk 593 million changing hands, followed by BATBC, Fu-Wang Ceramic, Central Pharma and Lovello Ice-Cream.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended lower with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI) losing 144 points to 17,595 and the Selective Categories Index (CSCX) shedding 81 points to 10,559.
Of the issues traded, 134 declined, 82 advanced and 39 others remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 4.18 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 127 million.

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