Bangladesh’s premier bourse, Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), closed yesterday, witnessing a massive plunge due to panic driven sale by investors. Dhaka stocks sank 6.5 per cent or 279.32 points, the biggest one day loss since key index DSEX was introduced in January 2013. The index closed at 4008.05 points. Moreover, the two selective indices Blue chip DSE30 and Shariah index DSES also went down by 88.89 points and 69.79 points to settle at 1346.11 points and 929.27 points respectively. Index of DSE fell since the start of the transaction of yesterday. DSEX lost 100 points in just 6 minutes after starting and 200 points in just 16 minutes. Only 2 companies showed positive gain yesterday. On Sunday report of the first coronavirus case in Bangladesh was identified. The impact of this case affected the bourses of the country. Investors said generally Bangladesh’s capital markets are sensitive. In the face of coronavirus, the falling trend of the stocks accelerated. Panicked investors sold their shares. Shakil Rizvi, president of DSE Brokers’ Association (DBA), told media stock market declined due to identification of coronavirus cases in Bangladesh. “Panicked investors sold shares. However, it is only temporary. We are hopeful the situation will be okayed soon.” An investor said, “The index has been falling for two weeks. We don’t see any signs of improvement of this situation. Due to coronavirus in Bangladesh, there is no stability in the market. There is a lot of pressure to sell share in the market. But there were no buyers. In this situation, investors do not know what to do.” Market turnover, however, stood at Tk 4.99 billion, which was higher over previous day’s mark of Tk 4.28 billion. On the DSE trading floor, a total number of 154,392 trades were executed in yesterday’s trading session with a trading volume of 209.92 million securities. Loser took a massive lead over gainers as out of 355 issues traded, 2 securities gained price while 352 declined and 1 remained unchanged. The market-cap of the DSE also fell to Tk 3,142 billion, from Tk 3,315 billion in the previous session. Only Mutual Trust Bank gained price in yesterday’s trading session. Square Pharma topped the turnover chart followed by Grameenphone, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, Summit Power, Sea Pearl Beach, Brac Bank, Orion Infusion, Bank Asia, VFS Thread and Orion Pharma. The top 10 losers were – Prime Finance First Mutual fund, Agrani Insurance, Anlima Yarn, Beacon Pharma, CVO PRL, Indo-Bangla Pharma, National Tubes, Oimax Electrode, Peninsula Chittagong and Simtex Industries. On the other hand, port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed at red extending the bearish streak of previous day. CSCX and CASPI declined by 466.88 points and 769.32 points to stand at 7470.67 points and 12328.79 points respectively. At CSE, a total of 12,736,925 shares and mutual fund of 256 companies were traded of which, 4 issues advanced while 248 declined and 4 issues remained unchanged.
