DSE falls 3% last week, reaching 49-day low
DSEX fell by 164 points and ended at 5,257 points
The benchmark index, DSEX, of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) fell by over 3% last week, slipping below the 5,300-point mark for the first time in 49 days.
According to the DSE, in the four trading days last week (14 to 17 October), the DSEX fell by 164 points and ended at 5,257 points, marking a significant fall over the past weeks.
Earlier, a day before the ouster of Hasina, the DSEX ended at 5,229 points on 4 August.
Among other indices, the Shariah-based DSES index fell by 2.63% or 31 points to settle at 1,174 points, and DS30, the blue-chip index fell by 2.75% or 54 points to 1,930 points.
Investors' participation in the DSE continued as the average turnover fell by 13% to Tk318 crore compared toTk366 crore in the previous week.
Meanwhile, most of the stocks faced price declines amid shares selling off. Out of the traded stocks on the Dhaka bourse, 87% of scrip prices declined, 8.54% of stocks prices advanced, and 4% of scrip prices remained unchanged, according to the DSE.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also settled on red terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and all-share price index (CASPI) declined by 1.95% and 2.07%, respectively.
According to EBL Securities, Islami Bank significantly impacted the decline of the DSE key index last week, contributing to a drop of 12.3 points in the DSEX. This was followed by BRAC Bank, which accounted for a loss of 9.8 points, and BAT Bangladesh, which contributed 8.2 points to the index's fall.
EBL Securities said in its weekly market review, the benchmark index of the capital bourse plunged further this week to deepen its free fall as investors' pessimistic sentiment regarding the market momentum continued to persist.
Investors preferred to trim their equity exposures and adopted a wait-and-see approach amid uncertainties surrounding earnings declarations for June-ending companies, it added.
Additionally, macroeconomic and regulatory uncertainties acted as negative catalysts that ignited the selling spree, allowing the bears to retain control for a prolonged period, the report read.
Investors were mostly active in the banking sector, followed by the pharma sector and IT sector. All the sectors ended in red with the services sector being the biggest loser.
BIFC led the gainers' list last week, rising by 25.27% to Tk11.40 per share. It was followed by Ambee Pharma, which gained 10.02% to reach Tk888.50 per share, and Paramount Textile, which increased by 9.68% to Tk54.40 per share.
Conversely, Union Insurance was the biggest loser, with its share price dropping 22.48% to Tk23.10. It was followed by Global Heavy Chemical, which fell by 20.91% to Tk20.80, and RSRM Steel, which decreased by 19.83% to Tk9.70.