The daily trade turnover on the prime bourse tumbled to nearly four months low on Wednesday as investors were reluctant to make fresh investment in stocks amid rising trend of Covid-19 infections.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 5.45 billion on the country's premier bourse, plunging further by 31 per cent over previous day's mark of Tk 7.91 billion.
It was the lowest single-day transaction since July 29, this year, when the turnover totalled a record Tk 3.99 billion.
Along with slumping turnover, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), also went down by 17.97 points or 0.36 per cent to settle at 4,887, after gaining more than 33 points in the previous day.
The number of fatalities from Covid-19 in Bangladesh reached 39 on Tuesday, reaching a new high in nearly two months with the virus infection rate also increasing further.
Market analysts said the investors followed cautious approach amid rising trend of Covid-19 infections and possible impact of the second wave of the virus which might have adverse impact on the country's economy.
The overflow of initial public offerings (IPOs) also kept the secondary market remained sluggish as investors gave their attention to the primary market to collect at least an IPO lot to book some short-term profit, said a merchant banker.
The IPO subscription of Robi Axiata, the largest ever in the country's capital market history, started on Tuesday which will raise Tk 5.23 billion by offloading 523 million ordinary shares.
The merchant banker noted that subscription of a number of IPOs had also stuck a large amount of fund in the primary market which also a reason for low turnover in recent days.
He said that a section of investors also followed cautious stance ahead of launching pre-opening and post-closing sessions from today on the DSE.
International Leasing Securities, the shaky investors went for profit booking sell-offs on mutual fund units after the news that the stock market regulator formed a body to probe into the unusual price hike of five closed-end mutual funds.
The stockbroker noted that the investors also liquidated their investment from financial institution, life insurance, food, engineering and textile sectors.
Among the major sectors, mutual fund witnessed the highest correction, losing 2.70 per cent, followed by financial institutions with 1.60 per cent, food 1.10 per cent, engineering 0.70 per cent and banking telecom and power lost 0.30 per cent each.
Only pharmaceuticals managed to gain 0.10 per cent.
Two other indices also ended in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 4.25 points to finish at 1,699 and the DSE Shariah Index saw a fractional loss of 0.39 point to close at 1126.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 335 issues traded, 174 ended lower, 79 higher while 82 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 117,243 trades were executed in the day's trading session with a trading volume of 259.28 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market capitalisation of DSE also fell to Tk 3,943 billion on Wednesday, from Tk 3,959 billion in the previous session.
Beximco Pharma continued to dominate the turnover chart with 2.99 million shares worth Tk 430 million changing hands, followed by Square Pharma, Brac Bank, Quasem Industries and Associated Oxygen.
Bangladesh Lamps was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 9.21 per cent while Genex Infosys was the worst loser, losing 9.15 per cent, following its price adjustment after record date.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended lower with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)-losing 60 points to close at 13,985 while the Selective Categories Index - CSCX shedding 37 points to close at 8,421.
Of the issues traded, 141 declined, 47 advanced and 50 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 7.44 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 241 million.
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