Stock sell-offs resume in another disrupted session

After three green sessions, stock sell-offs resumed on Sunday when the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) faced trading disruptions for the second time in less than a week. 

The premier bourse, which was already under fire for its technical glitch last week, rang the opening bell at 11.00 am on Sunday instead of 9.30 am due to issues related to adjustment of its price circuit breaker.   

It was not a technical glitch like the one that happened last Monday, according to a DSE statement. 

The bourse said, because there was no limit on price movement amid the corporate declarations, its market operations team was supposed to open the upper circuit for 70 scrips. Instead, it mistakenly lifted the price ceiling for all the scrips which caused the delay. 

After the issues were resolved, the DSE began trading 90 minutes later and kept trading open for an additional 40 minutes after the regular closing time of 1.50 pm. 

Last Monday, the DSE trading in the middle of the session was halted for 252 minutes due to an issue with its trading engine software. 

However, trading on the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) was smooth on both the bad days for DSE. 

Indeed, the market performed the same on both the bourses. 

DSEX, the broad-based index of the DSE, fell by 0.69% to close at 6,334 on Sunday, compared to the previous trading session. The blue chip index DS30 and Shariah Index DSES both closed 0.9% lower. 

The curtailed trading session at the DSE registered a Tk827 crore turnover, down from Tk1,095 crore on Thursday. 

Deterioration in overall corporate earnings on top of the macroeconomic uncertainties and unnerved investors caused many stocks to face sell-offs, despite their earnings improvement, said stockbrokers and analysts. 

At the end of the day, only 44 scrips advanced, 91 declined, and mostly due to the price floor, 231 remained unchanged.