DSE plummets by 1% as investors panic

The Dhaka Stock Exchange's benchmark index has plunged, extending its losing streak for the third straight session.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 24 Sept 2018, 02:20 PM
Updated : 24 Sept 2018, 02:20 PM

Spooked investors caused the market to plummet following what some described as panic selling on the DSE.

At the end of the day on Monday, the DSEX shed 57.7 points to close at 5,357—the largest fall in recent months.

“It was panic sale that dragged the market down,” said a trader of a top brokerage firm.

The market witnessed a sell-off around mid-session as some risk-averse investors opted for sidelines apprehending political chaos, said a top broker requesting not to be named.

On Saturday, Jatiya Oikya Prokriya, a loose political group, gave the ruling Awami League until Sept 30 to open talks with all political parties to form a non-partisan polls-time administration to hold the general elections in a free and fair manner.

It also threatened to launch a tough movement to press home their five-point demands from Oct 1.

However, former DSE president Rakibur Rahman said, “Taking all things into account, share market should be on the right track.”

He failed to find any clue for the market’s downturn. “I could not understand why the market behaved the way it has.”

“We thought the prime minister's pledge to develop capital market, positive economic situation and the announcement of 10 percent tax rebate once the money received from the Chinese consortium is invested in the listed company for three years were good signs for the market. But now the opposite is happening,” 

Losers outpaced gainers as out of 337 issues traded, share prices of 265 declined, 49 gained and 23 remained unchanged.

Trading activities dipped as the DSE turnover in value stood at more than Tk 5.8 billion, a sharp decline of about 23 percent over the previous session.

All the large cap sectors performed negatively except food and allied sector, according to BRAC EPL, an investment bank.

The engineering sector experienced the highest loss of 2.87 percent followed by power 2.49 percent, non-banking financial institutions 1.68 percent, pharmaceuticals 0.53 percent and banks 0.46 percent.