DSEX hits one-month low

FE Team | Published: January 13, 2025 21:50:43 | Updated: January 13, 2025 22:12:08

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) saw its prime index fall to a one-month low on Monday, following a technical glitch that delayed the market's opening by 10 minutes, marking the second such disruption this month.
The server issue was fixed by the engineers of the prime bourse within five minutes, said a DSE official, who declined to be named.
The DSE has experienced such technical glitches many times in recent years, leading to delayed or suspended trading.
Just a week ago, on January 5, a technical problem delayed the opening of the DSE by an hour and a half, prompting questions about the reliability of the exchange's IT systems.
MARKET GLOOMY AS USUAL
The market opened on a negative note on Monday, continuing the bearish momentum from the previous trading session.
The investors were unwilling to make fresh bets amid a lack of confidence as cautious investors shy away from taking positions in equities considering the market's waning momentum, said a leading stockbroker.
The investor anxiety over potential inflationary shocks from the tax hikes, along with adverse reactions to the latest media report on stricter loan classification rules in the banking sector from the next quarter, hit investor sentiment negatively, he added.
Despite buyers' interest in certain large-cap stocks following index rebalancing, the market failed to withstand the sell pressure with bears extending their control over the realm of the market momentum for two consecutive sessions.
The DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), finally settled with a loss of more than 4 points at 5,151, the lowest in a month since December 12. The DSEX lost more than 42 points in the past two trading days.
EBL Securities, in its daily market analysis, said stocks extended their losing streak as investors' bearish market sentiment, exacerbated by adverse reactions to the latest media report on stricter loan classification rules in the banking sector from the next quarter, continued to pervade across the trading floor.
The Dhaka bourse rebalanced DS30 index and DSEX on Sunday effective from January 19, as part of annual and semi-annual rebalancing of the Indices.
Nine large-cap firms, which were dropped from the blue-chip index of top 30 stocks due to their underperformance, saw price erosion between 0.45 per cent and 2.47 percent on Monday.
Beximco, Summit Power, Islami Bank, Heidelberg Cement, Linde Bangladesh, Orion Pharma, Sea Pearl Beach, Paramount Textile and Genex Infosys have dropped out of the Dhaka bourse's blue-chip group.
Islami Bank saw the highest price fall of 2.47 per cent, followed by Genex Infosys, Orion Pharma and Summit Power.
The blue-chip index DS30, a group of 30 prominent companies, saw a fraction loss of 0.94 point to close at 1,906 while the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, fell 0.61 point to 1,157.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, however, rose to Tk 3.98 billion, which was 7 per cent higher than the previous day's tally of Tk 3.71 billion led by sell pressure.
Investors were mostly active in textiles, which accounted for 15 per cent of the day's total turnover, followed by telecom (12 per cent) and banking (11 per cent).
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as 400 issued traded, 247 closed lower, 91 ended higher and 62 remained unchanged.
Grameenphone was the most-traded stock with shares worth Tk 386 million changing hands, followed by Khan Brothers, Fine Foods, Aftab Automobiles, and Agni Systems.
Monno Fabrics was the top gainer, rising 9.94 per cent, followed by CVO Petrochemicals Refinery and Khan Brothers while Padma Life insurance was the top loser, shedding 8.18 per cent, followed by Generation Next Fashions and Ratanpur Steel-Rerolling Mills.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also dropped with the CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) shedding 39 points to settle at 14,402 and its Selective Categories Index (CSCX) losing 20 points to close at 8,766.
Of the issues traded, 118 declined, 50 advanced and 30 issues remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.
The port-city bourse traded 4.67 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 540 million.
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