Stocks continue to bleed amid selling spree

Stocks continued to bleed for a third consecutive trading day yesterday as investors were on a selling spree. 

The DSEX, the benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), lost 27 points, or 0.43 per cent, to reach 6,256.

The DS30, the blue-chip index, plummeted 0.44 per cent to 2,225 while the DSES, the Shariah-compliant index, dropped 0.43 per cent to 1,365.

A crisis of confidence among investors is growing as performances of listed companies dropped in the first half of the current financial year, said a stockbroker.

A crisis of confidence among investors is growing as performances of listed companies dropped in the first half of the current financial year, said a stockbroker

As a result, stock investors are trying to sell shares and thus the index is falling, he added.

Of the securities, 11 advanced, 164 declined and 146 did not show any price movement.

The premier bourse of Dhaka has passed another downward session yesterday as the apprehensive investors continued their selling binge in the major sectors' stocks, said the daily market review of International Leasing and Financial Services.

The market started off on a positive note but the trend could not be sustained after the first hour of the trading session.

The investors are suffering from a confidence crisis amidst a gloomy outlook of the market trends and they also decreased their participation in the market that was reflected in the turnover.

As a result, turnover of the DSE, a key indicator of the market, dropped 22 per cent to Tk 470 crore.

All the sectors witnessed price corrections except for paper that rose 0.5 per cent and mutual fund which advanced 0.1. Travel dropped 4 per cent, services fell 3.7 per cent and IT was down 3.3 per cent.

The investors' activities were mainly focused on the pharmaceuticals sector, which accounted for 14.9 per cent of the day's total turnover, followed by IT (12.9 per cent) and food (11.5 per cent) sectors.

ICB AMCL Third NRB Mutual Fund topped the gainers' list with an increase of 9.2 per cent. AlHaj Textile Mills, Sonali Paper & Board Mills, Prime Bank and Bangladesh Welding Electrodes were also on the list.

Eastern Housing lost the most shedding more than 7.1 per cent. Shinepukur Ceramics, Intraco Refueling Station, Unique Hotel & Resorts, and Genex Infosys were also among those suffering significant losses.

Genex Infosys was the most-traded stock with issues worth Tk 38 crore changing hands.

Shinepukur Ceramics, Olympic Industries, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation and Orion Infusion also saw significant turnovers.

The Caspi, the all-share price index of Chittagong Stock Exchange, lost 56 points, or 0.3 per cent, to reach 18,478.

Of the issues, 18 rose, 63 retreated and 42 did not see any price swings.

Turnover of the port city bourse dropped 46.6 per cent from that on the previous day of trade to Tk 8 crore.