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Stocks witnessed a big jolt at the opening on Sunday, the first trading session after the securities regulator removed the floor price from all but 35 stocks after 18 months.
Within five minutes of trading, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange wiped out about 214 points to come down to 6,122 at 10:05 am.
Of the issues traded till then, 313 saw price erosion, only 24 advanced, and 22 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor after the first hour of trading.
More than 100 securities saw almost 10 per cent price erosion as soon as the market opened.
However, the index recovered some of the losses as the session progressed as some bargain hunters took positions on lucrative stocks.
After the first hour of trading, DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 139 points or 2.20 per cent to 6,197, when the report was filed at 11:00 am.
Market operators said it's nothing to be scared of and very much expected a fall as a large number of stocks failed to see price discovery for a long time due to the floor price.
“The market will recover very soon,” said a leading broker.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission lifted the floor price of all but 35 stocks on Thursday evening after 18 months.
On July 28, last year, the BSEC imposed the floor price on all stocks by calculating their average prices from the preceding five days to stop the index from falling from the war-induced economic uncertainties.
The decision was criticised by most analysts and foreign investors. However, the regulator continued with the floor price for 18 months.
However, two other indices faced a lower impact from lifting floor prices. The DS30 Index, which consists of blue-chip companies, shed 11 points to 2,118 while the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, fell 21 points to 1,366.
Turnover also stood at Tk 2.10 billion after the first hour of trading.
Small-cap stock BD Thai Aluminum became the most-traded stock till then, with shares worth Tk 179 million changing, followed by Sea Pearl Beach, BSC, and Beacon Pharma.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also opened sharply lower, with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – losing 380 points to 18,425 after the first hour of trading.
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