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Dhaka stocks dropped on Tuesday, hitting the key index a nearly 33-month low as investors found no immediate solution to the current market turmoil in the finance minister’s meeting in the previous day.
Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Monday held a meeting with the market regulators and stakeholders to find out solutions to the market plunges.
DSEX, the prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 0.61 per cent, or 30.74 points, to close at 4,928.98 points on Tuesday after gaining 27 points in the previous three sessions.
The index hit its lowest after December 24, 2016 when it was at 4,924.33 points.
After a slight gain on Tuesday, the market began to fall sharply and finished in the negative zone as investors were confused about the outcomes of the finance minister’s meeting with the stakeholders, market operators said.
They said that Kamal did not mention any immediate solution to the current bearishness at the market.
After Monday’s meeting, Kamal told reporters that the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission would remove anomalies at the market a special committee would be formed, governance would be ensured and state-run companies would be listed on the country’s stock exchanges.
Market operators said investors apparently did not take the finance minister’s commitments on trust as they had already lost their trust in the BSEC.
The government also often talks about enlisting of state-owned companies on the market but the matter has made a little headway over the years, they said.
Stock market analyst and United International University professor Mohammad Musa told New Age that the investors were confused about the decisions made in Kamal’s meeting.
He also said that the finance minister did not say anything new that might revive the investors’ confidence.
EBL Securities in its daily market commentary said, ‘Prolonged bearish vibe kept investors cautious and the market could not sustain its upward trend as the regulator failed to restore investors’ confidence. Most of the scrips faced price corrections in mid-session that impacted the market to settle negative at the end of the session.’
Market experts said investors had been grappling with bleak situation in the country’s financial market, Grameenphone’s tussle with the telecom regulator over an audit claim, share price manipulations under the regulator’s nose and dearth of better IPOs and market diversity.
Many investors are looking for an exit due to the downward trend at the market, they said.
The DSE lost around Tk 51,000 crore of market capitalisation in last seven months and around Tk 17,000 crore in last 17 days.
The average share prices of textile, pharmaceutical, non-bank financial institution and bank sectors dropped by 1.2 per cent, 0.9 per cent, 0.8 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.
DS30, the blue-chip index of the DSE, dropped by 0.22 per cent, or 3.93 points, to close at 1,751.81 points.
DSE Shariah index DSES shed 0.74 per cent, or 8.64 points, to close at 1,146.97 points.
National Tubes led the turnover chart with its shares worth Tk 28.04 crore changing hands.
Monno Jute Stafflers, Legacy Footwear, British American Tobacco, Square Pharmaceuticals, JMI Syringe, Stylecraft, Monno Ceramics, United Power Generation Company and Beacon Pharmaceuticals were the other turnover leaders.
National Tubes gained the most on the day with an 8.32-per cent increase in its share prices while Monno Ceramic Industries was the worst loser, shedding 9.30 per cent.
(NA)
