Stocks slipped into the red on Monday, after a single-day break, as risk-averse investors went on selling binge on sector specific shares.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 20.67 points or 0.43 per cent to settle at 4,761, after adding 11 points in the previous day.
Market analysts said ongoing depressed market outlook coupled with growing concern about the telecom regulator moves to appoint administrator to GP over unpaid dues dragged the market down.
The shaky investors sold their holdings from BATBC, GP, Square Pharma, IFAD Autos and Bangladesh Submarine Cable, contributing 23 points fall of DSEX jointly, said a leading broker.
Earnings per share (EPS) of GP plunged 13.92 per cent to Tk 5.38 for July-September 2019 against Tk 6.25 in the same quarter a year ago, also dampened investors' confidence, he said.
Power and banking sectors soared 2.01 per cent and 1.44 per cent respectively with six banks featured in the day's top 10 gainers' list, but failed to offset the other sectors loss.
The stockbroker noted that most of the investors remained worried about the recent volatility of the market and maintaining cautious stance.
He noted that the government recent market supportive steps apparently failed to boost investors' confidence.
The institutional investors are suffering from liquidity crunch while the retail investors are not confident enough to inject fresh funds into stocks, he said.
Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 10.45 points to finish at 1,675 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 9.68 points to close at 1,089.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 3.50 billion, which was 12 per cent higher than the previous day's turnover of Tk 3.12 billion.
International Leasing Securities, the panicked investors went for selling of shares from the beginning of the session and continued till the closure.
The stockbroker noted that telecom, textile, pharma, engineering and food sectors stocks observed liquidation, which pushed down the prime index by 21 points.
Among the major sectors, food sector witnessed the highest loss 2.37 per cent, followed by engineering with 2.21 per cent, telecom 1.17 per cent, pharma 0.98 per cent and non-bank financial institutions 0.54 per cent.
Losers outnumbered the gainers, as out of 354 issues traded, 250 closed lower and 63 ended higher while 41 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
United Power topped the turnover chart with 463,197 shares worth Tk 128 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were National Tubes, Premier Bank, Wata Chemicals and Square Pharma.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange, also closed lower with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -losing 60 points to settle at 14,482 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX -shedding 35 points to finish at 8,805.
Here too, the losers beat gainers, as 163 issues closed lower, 63 ended higher and 29 remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.
The port city bourse traded 8.95 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 209 million in turnover.
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