Stocks plummeted on Sunday, with core index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange falling below 5,700-mark as the latest quarterly earnings failed to meet investors' expectations.
More than 100 listed companies posted their October-December, 2020 quarter earnings on the DSE website Sunday. Of them, 66 companies saw their earnings decline.
The market opened on negative note which continued until end of the session with no sign of reversal amid persistently lackluster trade.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 74.49 points or 1.30 per cent to settle at 5,649, after adding nearly 29 points in the past two consecutive sessions.
The key index, however, added 248 points or 4.58 per cent in January, the first month of this year.
Two other indices also saw major correction. The DSE 30 Index comprising blue chips plunged 30.81 points to finish at 2,160 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) fell 15 points to close at 1,265.
Market analysts said cautious investors released their stakes amid lower than expected earnings of most companies while some others were busy rebalancing their portfolio based on the latest corporate declarations.
The investors opted to liquidate their holdings in sector-wise stocks as the latest earnings declarations failed to meet investors' expectations, commented to International Leasing Securities.
Apart from this, some brokerage houses are continuing pressurized their clients for adjusting the margin loan to regulatory allowable limit, said the stockbroker.
The top negative index contributors were British American Tobacco, Square Pharmaceuticals, Summit Power, Grameenphone, LafargeHolcim, Robi Axiata and United Power, according to data from amarstock.com, a stock market data analyst.
Newly listed Energypac Power Generation continued to slide as its stock saw 7.39 per cent price fall to close at Tk 66.40.
Square Pharma stock fell 2.16 per cent despite its earnings per share grows 17 per cent year-on-year to Tk 4.33 in October-December, 2020.
Summit Power plunged by 7.63 per cent, followed by LafargeHocim with 6.0 per cent. Robi Axiata faced further correction by 1.32 per cent while GP share fell 1.35 per cent.
Risk-averse investors, particularly small one, released their holdings after noticing that some heavyweight issues started to fall, said a merchant banker.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, came down to one and a half month low to Tk 8.23 billion, which was 12.5 per cent lower than the previous day's Tk 9.41 billion.
The entire major sector faced correction except engineering which gained 1.6 per cent.
Financial institution and cement sector lost 3.0 per cent each, followed by power with 2.3 per cent, food 2.2 per cent, telecom 1.4 per cent and banking 1.3 per cent.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 356 issues traded, 210 declined, 56 advanced and 90 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco- the flagship company of Beximco Group continued to dominate the turnover chart with 17.65 million shares of 1.55 billion changing hands, followed by Robi Axiata, LankaBangla Finance, British American Tobacco and Summit Power.
MI Cement-the cement marker-stole the show gaining almost 10 per cent as the investor reacted positively to its second quarter earnings result. It reported that its EPS was Tk 1.52 in Q2 of 2020, up from negative Tk 1.80 in the same period a year earlier.
Prime Life Insurance was the day's worst loser, shedding 7.78 per cent, ending a five-day rally.
A total number of 147,021 trades were executed in the day's trading session with a trading volume of 208.40 million shares and mutual fund units.
Market-cap of the DSE fell to Tk 4,790 billion on Sunday, from Tk 4,840 billion in the previous day.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also fell sharply with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -losing by 200 points to settle at 16,474 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX shedding 123 points to close at 9,942.
Of the issues traded, 142 declined, 44 advanced and 51 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city's bourse traded 15.44 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 827m.
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