Stock market falls again after two days of gains

After two consecutive trading days of notable gains, the country's stock market turned downward again on Sunday (8 November), the first working day of the week. At the main bourse, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), most listed companies' shares and units lost value, and both the indices and trading turnover declined. However, while Dhaka saw a fall, the other bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), ended with its main index slightly positive.

Earlier, the market had fallen for the first three days of last week before recovering over the last two days. On Thursday, the last day of the week, DSE turnover crossed the Tk 600 crore mark, reaching its highest level in a month. Carried by that positive momentum, most share prices rose at the start of trading on Sunday and the index stayed in positive territory for the first two hours. But selling pressure built up in the later part of the session, causing a broad-based fall and ending the day with a sharp decline.

By the close, of the companies listed on the DSE, 122 advanced, 200 declined and 65 remained unchanged.

Among the good companies paying dividends of 10 percent or more, 67 advanced while 98 declined. Among medium-grade companies, 23 rose while 37 fell. Among the weak 'Z' category companies that pay no dividend, 32 advanced while 64 declined. In the mutual fund sector, 6 advanced against 9 declines.

In this situation, the DSE's benchmark index, DSEX, fell 10 points to 5,402. The DSE-30 index of the top 30 selected companies also dropped 10 points to 2,058, while the Shariah index rose 1 point to 1,049.

Turnover also fell in line with the indices, dropping by Tk 86.63 crore from the previous day to Tk 558.80 crore.

Trading in Dhaka on the day was centred on Shahjibazar Power, whose shares worth about Tk 23.71 crore changed hands. Envoy Textile followed with Tk 23.29 crore and Sayham Textile with Tk 18.38 crore worth of shares traded.

Other top-traded companies included Evince Textile, Matin Spinning, Prime Finance First Mutual Fund, Dorin Power, Malek Spinning, Purabi General Insurance and Provati Insurance.

At the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), 70 companies advanced while 69 declined. The CSE's overall index, CASPI, rose 15 points, but turnover fell to Tk 11.21 crore from Tk 19.52 crore the previous day.

The gains of the last two days of the previous week had raised hopes among investors. Thursday's highest turnover in a month, followed by the first two hours of gains on Sunday morning, had strengthened that hope further. But the selling pressure late in the session, which ended the day with a sharp fall, once again underlined the market's volatility.

Overall, the day's picture showed that losers outnumbered gainers in every category, from good dividend-paying companies to medium-grade firms and weak 'Z' category companies. The mutual fund sector showed the same pattern.

After this fall on the first day of the week, investors will now be watching which way the market moves in the coming trading days.