Bangladesh’s stocks fall initiates MoF emergency meeting

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Bangladesh’s stocks witnessed yet another bearish session on Monday, extending the losing streak for the fifth straight session, as investors continued to sell their shares.

As both the bourses fell sharply, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) called an emergency meeting this afternoon to discuss the overall situation.

Following the previous day’s four-and-a-half year’s biggest fall of 133 points, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) started the day on a drastic fall.

Within first 25 minutes of trading, the key index of the country’s prime bourse fell more than 117 points while the CSE All Share Price Index (CAPSI) of port city’s bourse slumped 217 points at 10:55am.

Meanwhile, a group of small investors tried to stage demonstration in front of DSE building to protest share prices fall about 2:00pm, but police foiled their attempt.

The investors demanded necessary steps to bring back normalcy in the market.

However, the index recovered most of the initial loss and finally DSEX closed more than 18 points lower while CAPSI fell 64 points at closing.

Market operators said a section of investors followed cautious stance amid political tension ahead of Khaleda Zia’s verdict on a graft case scheduled for February 8.

DHAKA STOCK EXCHANGE:

At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 18.51 points or 0.31 per cent to settle at 5,869 points.

DSEX shed more than 307 points or 5.0 percent within five trading sessions.

The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also saw a fractional loss of 0.29 point or 0.01 percent to close at 2191. However, the DSE Shariah Index closed flat at 1,377 points.

The losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 335 issues traded, 186 closed lower, 111 higher and 38 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals topped the turnover chart with shares worth BDT 211 million changing hands, followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, LankaBangla Finance, Grameenphone and Brac Bank.

Islamic Insurance was the day’s highest gainer, posting a gain of 4.33 percent while Progressive Life Insurance was the worst loser, losing 5.89 percent.

CHITTAGONG STOCK EXCHANGE:

Port city bourse CSE also closed lower with CSE All Share Price Index – CAPSI- shedding 64 points to settle at 18,155 and Selective Categories Index – CSCX – falling 37 points to finish at 10,968.

Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 125 issues closed lower, 78 ended higher and 21 remained unchanged on the CSE.

The port city bourse traded 7.78 million shares and mutual fund units worth nearly BDT 199 million in turnover.

BBN/AS/AD