Dhaka stocks inched down on Wednesday, extending the losing streak to the third session as the investors’ concerns over the worsening COVID-19 pandemic situation and the regulator-enforced floor prices kept the market muted.
Amid the downward trend, share prices of more than two-thirds of the companies have already hit their respective lowest ceilings but investors remained reluctant to buy shares.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, shed 0.15 per cent, or 6.17 points, to close at 3,963.4 points on Wednesday.
The DSEX lost 97.03 points in the last three sessions.
The country’s stock market reopened on Sunday after remaining closed since March 26 due to the coronavirus pandemic-induced general holidays.
Market operators said that the surge in COVID-19 infection cases in the country and the ceiling on share price fall had made the indices almost immobile.
On March 29, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission imposed the floor price system to arrest free fall of share prices on the market amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Market operators said that the country’s stock market had become almost buyer less as investors were concerned about the long-lasting impact of the pandemic on the country’s economy and their incomes.
With new 2,695 infection cases and 37 deaths on Wednesday, the COVID-19 has infected 55,140 people and killed 746 people across the country.
Most of the listed companies have severely been affected by the shutdown in April and May, market operators said.
They said that investors, however, were hopeful about some scirps including the pharmaceutical ones.
Investors are unwilling to buy shares as stock prices of a good number of companies have already hit the floor prices set by the regulator but are unable to fall beyond the limits as the system does not allow it, market operators said.
The turnover on the DSE also decreased to Tk 152.63 crore on Wednesday compared with that of Tk 155.24 crore in the previous trading session. Of the turnover,
Tk 104.9 crore came from block trading.
The pharmaceutical sector occupied 78 per cent of the total turnover followed by telecommunication with 5.4 per cent and bank with 4.7 per cent on Wednesday.
Of the 356 scrips traded on the bourse on Wednesday, 43 declined, 16 advanced and 252 remained unchanged.
The average share prices of telecommunication and pharmaceutical sectors dropped by 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively after their recent gains.
EBL Securities in its daily market commentary said that many stocks had now reached the floor prices and the other stocks were nearing the prices.
So, investors are not being able to buy or sell shares at their preferred prices, it said.
DSE blue-chip index DS30 lost 0.15 per cent, or 1.99 points, to close at 1,328.5 points on Wednesday.
Shariah index DSES also decreased by 0.13 per cent, or 1.2 points, to end at 918.99 points.
GP led the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 24 crore changing hands on the day.
Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Square Pharmaceuticals, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, Exim Bank, Indo-Bangla Pharmaceuticals, Orion Pharmaceuticals, Islami Bank and Monno Ceramics were the other turnover leaders.
Exim Bank 1st Mutual Fund gained the most on the day with a 2.43-per cent increase in its share prices while Dulamia Cotton performed the worst, shedding 7.2 per cent.
