Stocks see highest fall in 11 months, DSEX tumbles 182 points

DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), tumbled on Sunday and lost 181.54 points or 3.44% riding on the news that the government has imposed a seven-day lockdown from Monday to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The key index observed the highest fall in 11 months, since March 16 last year when the pandemic had led to the consecutive fall.

International Leasing Securities in its daily market commentary said that the market started the session with a vertical fall which continued till the end as the investors remained in panic selling mode amid growing tension over the impact of the coronavirus as the country is set to emerge as a hotspot for the virus.

Meanwhile, the country’s bourses have shortened the trading hours by 3.5 hours, effective from Monday.

Trading will begin at 10am and continue until 12pm instead of 10pm to 2:30pm, the bourses said in separate press releases on Sunday.

“If banks remain open during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as well as amid the lockdown, the stock market will also remain open for the sake of the investors,” Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), said at a workshop on Sunday.

The Capital Market Journalists Forum (CMJF) and the CFA Society Bangladesh jointly organized the workshop.

Stocks from all the sectors experienced notable selling pressure which pulled DSEX below the 5,100-point mark since December 23 last year.

Turnover increased by 15.5% to Tk521 crore at DSE. The miscellaneous sector dominated the turnover chart covering 15.1% of the total turnover.

Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 324 issues traded, 251 declined, only 7 advanced and 66 issues remained unchanged on the Dhaka bourse.

Beximco secured the leadership position on the top turnover chart with a turnover of Tk70.2 crore with its share price closing at Tk68.5 per share. The stock was followed by Robi Axiata with Tk30.7 crore, Beximco Pharmaceuticals with Tk20.8 crore, Asia Pacific General Insurance Co with Tk19.7 crore, and LankaBangla Finance with Tk17.1 crore.

Desh General Insurance secured the highest gain of 9.7% during the session. The stock was followed by Provati Insurance Company with 6.5%, Envoy Textiles with 2.3%, RAK Ceramics with 0.8%, and Matin Spinning Mills with 0.6%.

Paramount Insurance Company turned out the worst-loser with its price declining by -12.3%. The stock was followed by Dominage Steel Building Systems with -10%, Golden Son with -10%, IFIC Bank with -10%, and SS Steel with -10%.

EBL Securities in its daily market commentary said that the market sentiment weakened amid rising coronavirus cases in the country, which acted as a trigger on the bearish sentiment towards the bourse.

Investors perceived that the economic activity may come to a halt due to the lockdown and fearing further fall of share prices they engaged in dumping shares, it added.

Despite the regulator’s assurance, investor worries loomed and they decided to remain observant till the market reached its bottom, ahead of an obscure future, it said.

Market capitalization at the DSE dropped by Tk15,335 crore in the last trading session.

Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the total number of a company's outstanding shares with the current market price of their shares.

The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange, also settled on the red trajectory. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) declined by 324.7 points and 542.1 points respectively.

Last year, share trading at the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges was closed for 66 days due to the Covid-19 pandemic.