DSEX falls to five-month low at 5,284 points amid continued market slide

Trading ended on Tuesday, the third working day of the week, with a big fall on both of the country's main bourses. On the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the shares of the majority of companies lost value. With the day's continued fall, the DSE's main index dropped to its lowest position in five months; previously, on 23 May this year, the DSEX index had stood at 5,328 points.

At the end of the day, the DSE's broad index DSEX lost 20 points from the previous working day to stand at 5,284 points. At the same time, the Shariah-based DSES index fell 7 points to 1,030 points, and the DS30 index, comprising the top 30 companies, lost 20 points to fall to 2,021 points.

Of the 386 companies and mutual funds traded on the DSE during the day, only 68 gained in price, 267 lost value and the share prices of 51 remained unchanged. Despite the fall, however, turnover in the market rose to Tk 565.82 crore, which is Tk 147.60 crore more than the previous working day's Tk 418.22 crore.

According to market analysts, the ongoing labour unrest in industrial areas, violence and the unstable situation on the streets are having a direct impact on the country's capital market. Disruption to production in factories, international export orders coming under risk and fears of rising operating costs have created extreme anxiety among general investors. This uncertainty among investors about the future has created massive selling pressure in the market, resulting in across-the-board price falls.

The textile sector dominated single turnover on the DSE on the day. Envoy Textiles Limited topped the list with shares worth Tk 32.11 crore traded. Matin Spinning, in second place, saw turnover of Tk 28.71 crore, and Paramount Textile rose to third place with shares worth Tk 15.86 crore changing hands. Others on the top turnover list included Brac Bank, Shahjibazar Power, City Bank, Pubali Bank, Prime Finance First Mutual Fund, Malek Spinning and Sayham Textile.

At the top of the losers' list was CAPM IBBL Islamic Mutual Fund, whose unit price fell 9.45 percent. Other notable losers on the list included Sayham Textile, Reliance Insurance, Tung Hai Knitting, Bangladesh National Insurance, BSRM, Peoples Leasing, Exim Bank First Mutual Fund, MBL First Mutual Fund and Agrani Insurance.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also saw a big fall. At the end of the day, the CSE's overall index CASPI lost 174 points to settle at 14,214 points. Of the 181 companies that took part in trading on the bourse, 45 gained in price, 112 fell and 24 remained unchanged. A total of Tk 12.71 crore worth of shares and units were traded on the CSE on the day.