Stocks tumbled on Wednesday as worried investors dumped their holdings amid fears over impact of rising virus cases and deaths in the country.
Following the previous day's marginal correction, the market opened on negative note and fell sharply in the final hour as investors sold major sector stocks.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 69.89 points or 1.14 per cent to settle below the 6,100-mark at 6,035. DSEX lost nearly 90 points in the two straight sessions.
Two other indices also ended lower with the DSE30 Index, comprising blue chips, fell 16.86 points to finish at 2,188 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) shed 6.91 points to close at 1,297.
Market experts said the investors went on selling binge on major sector stocks riding on the news that daily Covid-19 infections and deaths are rising alarmingly in the country.
The number of Covid-19 infected patients and deaths are rising and the situation is deteriorating fast which took a heavy toll on the stock market, said a leading broker.
At least 5,727 new cases were recorded and 85 more deaths in the last 24 hours until Wednesday morning while positivity rate is 20.27 per cent, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The index fell sharply amid rising trend of coronavirus cases and deaths which prompted the investors to go for selling in insurance, textile, bank, power, food and financial institution sectors, commented International Leasing Securities.
However, the tax benefits facility in the outgoing fiscal year and continuation of the special facility to disclose untaxed money in the stock market might have positively impacted the market ahead, said the stockbroker.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, remained above Tk 20 billion-mark and amounted to Tk 20.30 billion, which was 0.65 per cent higher than the previous day's tally of Tk 20.17 billion.
Turnover remained high as the institutional investors were active on the market due to removal of the floor price restriction from all listed securities, said a merchant banker.
According to EBL Securities, the uprising virus cases prompted most of the investors on selling spree to book profit as the index reached to nearly 41-months high.
Major sectors suffered losses with general insurance took a big hit, losing 5.40 per cent, followed by life insurance with 4.10 per cent, textile 2.10 per cent, engineering 1.30 per cent, power 0.80 per cent, financial institutions 0.50 per cent.
Losers took strong lead over the gainers, as out of 372 issues traded, 217 declined, 133 advanced and 22 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 1.60 billion changing hands, followed by National Feed Mills (Tk 667 million), Makson Spinning Mills (Tk 493 million), Dragon Sweater (470 million) and Kattali Textile (Tk 411 million).
Monno Ceramic was the day's top gainer, posting a 9.96 per cent gain while Pioneer Insurance was the worst loser, losing 9.82 per cent.
A total number of 322,583 trades were executed in the day's trading session with a trading volume of 757.35 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of DSE also fell to Tk 5,082 billion on Wednesday, down from the previous day's mark of Tk 5,124 billion.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also fell sharply with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -losing 194 points to settle at 17,570 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX shedding 117 points to close at 10,571.
Of the issues traded, 179 declined, 118 and 21 issues remained unchanged on the CSE. The port city's bourse traded 40.26 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 1.36 billion.
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