Stocks slump at opening on virus worries

Stocks plunged at the opening on Monday like the previous two days as investors became worried following the sudden surge in Covid-19 infections and death in recent days.

Meanwhile, unlike every debutant in the recent trend, the NRBC Bank failed to hit the upper circuit breaker on its first-day trading on Monday despite the bank’s profit after tax jumped 539 per cent year-on-year to Tk 1,406.42 million in January-September, 2020.

The bank’s share opened at Tk 10 each and now is now being traded at 12.6 from its offer price of Tk 10 after the first hour of trading.

However, NRBC Bank is the most traded stock till then with 21.27 million shares worth Tk284 million changing hands within the first hour of trading.

Following the previous two days’ sharp decline, the market opened on a negative owing to a rising number of infections, investors apprehending that the country could be in for a second round of lockdown.

Within the first hour of trading, the DSEX plunged more than 59 points while the CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) of port city’s bourse shed 123 points at 11:00 am when the report was filed.

DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, crashed by 59.96 points or 1.12 per cent to stand 5,289 points till then.

Two other indices also saw a negative trend till then with the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, lost 32.73 to reach at 2,001 points and the Shariah Index (DSES) shed 16.30 points to stand 1,210 points till then.

Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 1.98 billion within the first hour of trading when the report was filed at 11:00 am.

Market analysts said most of the investors continued their selling binge on major sector stocks riding on the news that daily Covid-19 infections and death rising alarmingly in recent days in the country.

“Stocks slumped in early trading as most of the investors went on selling shares while some adopted a careful approach owing to worries over rising cases of Covid-19 in the country,” said a top broker.

Of the issues traded till then, 195 declined, 42 advanced and 72 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor till then.

The port city bourse – the Chittagong Stock Exchange – (CSE) also saw a negative note with CSE All Share Price Index- CASPI-losing 123 points to stand at 15,363 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX shedding 75 points to react 9,268, also at 11:00 am.

Of the issues traded till then 66 declined, 19 gained and 24 remained unchanged with Tk 96 million in turnover.

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