Stocks tumble amid lower turnover

Stocks witnessed a big jolt on Tuesday, with the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) tumbling below 5,700-mark, as investors went on sell-offs on large-cap stocks.

DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 94.55 points or 1.63 per cent to settle at 5,695. DSEX lost roughly 140 points in the past three straight sessions.

Two other indices also edged lower. The DSE 30 Index comprising blue chips slumped 39 points to finish at 2,162 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) shed 17.43 points to close at 1,279.

Debutant Energypac Power Generation faced a major correction of 9.93 per cent, making it the day’s top loser, after soaring 198.7 per cent or Tk 61.60 each in the past five consecutive sessions from its offer price of Tk 31 each since debut on January 19.

Market operators said price fall from large-cap sector stocks and lower than expected earnings disclosures of some listed companies contributed to the index fall.

Top negative index contributors of the market were Robi Axiata, Beximco, ICB, Beximco Pharma and Grameenphone, according to data from amarstock.com, a stock market data analyst.

The market gradually lost its vibrancy as the time of readjusting the interest rate cap imposed by the securities regulator on margin loans provided by stockbrokers and merchant bankers to investors is approaching, said a leading broker.

The stockbroker noted that many brokerage houses are insisting their clients to adjust the loan as they are unable to provide the loan at such low rates due to their high cost of fund.

Recently the stock market regulator fixed the highest interest rate at 12 per cent on margin loans disbursed against listed securities with the highest spread on the cost of margin loans at 3.0 per cent.

Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, also fell to Tk 11.25 billion on the country’s premier bourse, slumping by 29 per cent over the previous day’s mark of Tk 15.85 billion.

Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 357 issues traded, 255 declined, 27 advanced and 75 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

Beximco topped the turnover chart with 16.85 million shares worth Tk 1.43 billion changing hands, followed by Energypac Power worth Tk 1.14 billion, Robi Tk 1.03 billion, LankaBangla Finance Tk 860 million and Beximco Pharma Tk 516 million.

British American Tobacco was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 4.71 per cent while Energypac Power was the worst loser, losing 9.93 per cent.

A total number of 200,231 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 282.88 million shares and mutual fund units.

Market-cap of the DSE stood at Tk 4,784 billion on Tuesday, down from Tk 4,853 billion in the previous day.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also kept losing with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –plunging by 299 points to settle at 16,578 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX shedding 179 points to close at 10,008.

Of the issues traded, 179 declined, 22 advanced and 50 remained unchanged on the CSE.

The port city’s bourse traded 14.61 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 665 million.

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