Stocks plummeted Wednesday, with prime index of the major bourse plunged to a fresh three-month low, as shaky investors sold shares, fearing further fall.
Market analysts said news on Taxpayer's Identification Number (TIN) compulsory for stock investors made them (investors) panicked.
However, the DSE officials ruled out the possibility saying, NBR did not urge the bourses to do so. They urged the Insurance sector to keep TIN for their policy holders and asked the bourses' officials whether it is compulsory or not for the stock investors.
The government asked Grameenphone (GP) on Tuesday to pay Tk 125.79 billion in dues within two weeks also weighed on investors' sentiment.
Following the news, share price of GP plunged 2.48 per cent to close at 399.40 each on Wednesday.
The other large-cap shares like United Power, Brac Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank and BATBC also saw selling pressure, losing 7.10 per cent, 3.50 per cent, 2.57 per cent and 0.91 per cent respectively.
"Ongoing pessimism, Taxpayer's Identification Number issue, GP due issue coupled with falling foreign portfolio investment eroded investors' confidence," said a leading merchant banker.
The market opened on negative trend and the downward trend continued until end of the session with no sign of reversal.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 69.97 points or 1.26 per cent to settle at more than three months low at 5,452.
It was the lowest level of DSEX since December 27, 2018, when it was 5,385.
The two other indices-the DS30 index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) - ended lower.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 29.66 points to finish at 1,947 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 11.88 points to close at 1,269.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, however, rose to Tk 4.51 billion, which was Tk 6.36 per cent higher than the previous day's Tk 4.24 billion.
A total number of 112,942 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 83.80 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell to Tk 4,083 billion on Wednesday, from Tk 4,140 billion in the previous day.
According to International Leasing Securities, liquidation of shares mostly from power, telecom, bank, financial institution, textile, food and engineering sectors led the index to three months low.
The power sector posted the highest loss of 3.15 per cent, followed by telecommunication with 2.48 per cent, banking 1.64 per cent and financial institutions 1.58 per cent.
Engineering and food both fell by 0.95 per cent, followed by pharmaceuticals with 0.25 per cent.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 346 issues traded, 264 declined, 54 advanced, and 28 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
The top-ten traded companies grabbed more than 40 per cent of the day's total turnover with United Power topped the chart for the fifth straight day with 1.37 million shares worth Tk 548 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were BATBC (Tk 377 million), Grameenphone (Tk 172 million), Monno Ceramic (Tk 163 million), and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company (Tk 128 million).
United Insurance was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 9.90 per cent while United Power was the worst loser, losing 7.10 per cent.
The port city bourse CSE also ended lower with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -losing 196 points to settle at 16,735 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX -shedding 118 points to finish at 10,133.
Here too, the losers beat gainers, as 168 issues closed lower, 52 ended higher and 16 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 4.52 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 785 million in turnover.
babulfexpress@gmail.com