Panic sale pushes Dhaka stocks down

FE Report Dhaka stocks lost almost one and a half per cent Monday, breaking the fourth straight sessions' gaining streak, with substantially declining turnover, as the investors sold off their shares out of panic. Market analysts said that the media reports relating to scrap the existing money whitening facility for investment in the stock market made investors somewhat panicked and they sold off their shares. Media repots stated that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had approved a National Board of Revenue's (NBR) proposal to scrap the existing money whitening facility for investment in the stock market and the board submitted the draft Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) to the Law Ministry for vetting. The market witnessed sharp volatility during the first hour gyrating between red and green. In the rest of the session, lack of buying pressure pushed the index lower and finally ended more than 77 points lower. The benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange--DGEN slipped 77.24 points or 1.47 per cent to close at 5,155.14. Earlier, in the last four consecutive sessions, the general index of the DSE gained 4.64 per cent or 236.02 points. The broader DSE All Shares Price Index (DSI) went down by 65.62 points or 1.50 per cent to close at 4,295.34. The DSE-20 blue-chip index also lost 52.28 points or 1.134 per cent to close at 3,845.46. News relating to central bank's upcoming monetary policy and withdrawal of facility to whiten black money in the stock market seemed to have made investors anxious, brokers said.