Stocks continue to decline

FE Report Dhaka stocks dipped for the second straight session Thursday, the last trading day of the week, triggering demonstration by the frustrated investors again in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) building. Market insiders said that the slump witnessed Wednesday due to negative comments by World Bank and IMF on the stock market continued as traders remained panicked. The market opened with a positive note, gaining more than 25 points within 10 minutes. After that the index started to decline and the downtrend continued until the closure amid moderate ups and down and finally closed 103 points lower. The benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN), the yardstick of the market, plunged 103.20 points or 1.90 per cent to close at 5,308.78. The broader DSE All Shares Price Index (DSI) shed 85.73 points or 1.89 per cent to close at 4,439.20. The DSE-20 blue-chip index also shed 40.28 points or 1.02 per cent to close at 3,874.09. Mr Yawer Sayeed, managing director and CEO of AIMS of Bangladesh, the first private asset management company said that the investors' confidence came to an extremely low level. "The investors' confidence stands at an exit point and they sold shares to leave the market at any cost as repeated moves of market regulators, central bank and different stakeholders failed to revive the investors' confidence," said Mr Sayeed. The involvement of the government's influential persons to salvage the plunging stock market also made many investors shaky and they wanted to leave the market instead of fresh investment, he added. A stock broker said, "The market situation has already become very alarming as desperate moves virtually failed to stablise the market and it is further hit by the latest concern of the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF)." However, a market insider said, "High demand for money ahead of Eid festival also forced many investors to sell-off shares to meet their additional need for cash money instead of fresh exposure." Turnover value stood at Tk 3.44 billion almost same from previous session's Tk 3.43 billion . The losers thrashed the gainers as out of 252 issues traded, only 24 advanced, 226 declined and two remained unchanged. Banking sector lost 1.4 per cent whereas NBFIs, insurance and fuel and power sector also declined by 2.3 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively. Telecommunications sector was up by 1.2 per cent as GP continued to outperform the market on the back of its impressive Q3 earnings number. Grameenphone (GP) also topped the turnover list with shares worth Tk 173.91 million changing hands. The other turnover leaders were SIBL, Titas gas, ONE bank, Beximco Limited, Jamuna Bank, Southeast Bank, National Bank, City Bank and Malek spinning. Reliance One' the first scheme of Reliance Insurance Mutual Fund was the day's highest gainer posting a rise of 5.88 per cent.