Panic-gripped market in downward spiral

The Dhaka bourse ended the week with another sharp loss for the third consecutive session as a majority of the listed securities, including blue chips, ended up in the red.
According to market operators, investors, panicking over further loss, mounted sell pressure.
Blue chip securities, which have greater influence on the broad index, including Square Pharmaceuticals and Grameenphone, played a pivotal role in dragging the index.
All of the top 10 index draggers were blue chips. They jointly wiped out 27.8 points from the DSEX, the broad index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
Thursday's session, however, opened with a good vibe. The DSEX exhibited an upward trend for half an hour.
Later on, the DSEX started to decline and remained on a downward spiral, with timid recovery moves. It finally closed at 5,257 points, with a loss of 58 points or 1.09 per cent.
Of the top index draggers, BRAC Bank solely wiped out 8.4 points of the index, followed by Islami Bank Bangladesh 5.3 points, British American Tobacco Bangladesh 2.8 points, Square Pharmaceuticals 2.4 points and Grameenphone 1.6 points.
Of the 30 blue chip stocks, 21 witnessed price erosion. The DS30 index comprising blue chip stocks slid 0.90 per cent or 17.58 points to close at 1930.39 points.
Not a single company of the index, with good financial performance, experienced appreciation on Thursday.
Market operators said the market was mainly driven by companies having weak fundamentals.
Top index movers included Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Olympic Industries, Kohinoor Chemical Industries, and Beacon Pharmaceuticals.
The DSEX lost 106 points in total in the three consecutive sessions to Thursday.
EBL Securities in a market review said the market's bearish vibe continued as it failed to recover from the enduring pessimism amidst an uncertain market outlook.
"The market remained sell-dominant throughout the session as unnerved investors opted to liquidate their holdings to avoid further capital erosion in their already hampered portfolio," said the EBL Securities.
Of the 395 issues traded, 53 advanced, 293 declined and 49 were unchanged. The DSE featured a turnover of Tk 3.07 billion, 3.54 per cent up from the previous session.
The service & real estate sector was the day's worst loser, with market value declining 3.1 per cent, followed by life insurance, general insurance and travel & leisure.
The banking sector had the highest contribution of 19.6 per cent to the market turnover, followed by telecommunication 16.8 per cent and pharmaceuticals & chemicals 15.4 per cent.
Pharma Aid was the number one gainer, with a rise of 7.49 per cent, while Sikder Insurance Company was the worst loser after a fall of 7.34 per cent.
Agni Systems was the number one turnover leader, with a value of Tk 228 million, followed by Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, BRAC Bank, and Islami Bank.
Meanwhile, the DSE asked Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company's (BIFC) to explain the recent abnormal price surge of the stock.
Following the query, the Z category company on Thursday informed the bourse that there was no undisclosed price sensitive information behind the price escalation or the increase in the volume of shares traded.
The company's share price jumped 55 per cent to Tk 11.40 each in the last 11 sessions despite its financial weaknesses.
The BIFC incurred losses from FY15 through FY19. No financial updates of the company are available on the DSE website since FY21.

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