The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Majority of the shares on both the bourses in Dhaka and Chittagong continued to plunge for the third consecutive working day yesterday influenced by a fall in share prices of banks, insurance companies and mutual funds.

A sharp decline in the benchmark DGEN or general index marked the day's opening on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). It however returned from losses immediately before maintaining a downward curve across the trading session. It lost 24.57 points or 0.86 per cent to end at 2801.42.

The DSI or all-share price index finished 22.60 points or 0.92 per cent lower at 2426.07. The blue-chip DSE-20 closed at 2558.86, slumping 85.19 points or 3.22 per cent.

Turnover on the DSE reached Tk 3.11 billion, with 24,323,614 shares changing hands, up from Tk 2.99 billion the previous day.

Decliners beat advancers 133 to 86, with 13 issues holding steady.

Turnover from 6,036,113 traded shares on the port city bourse rose to Tk 530.81 million from yesterday's Tk 488.23 million.

Of the traded 141 issues, 92 lost, 45 gained and four remained unchanged.

Market participators said the trading remained gloomy due to sell-offs by nervous investors.

"Panicky investors are not holding money in the market for a longer time," a top official of a brokerage firm told reporters.

Low investor-confidence due to recent interventions led towards the ongoing sell-offs, added the official asking not to be named.

Investment consultant Bashir Ahmed who is with brokerage firm Stocks & Bonds echoed him saying the sell-off is leading the market to enter the bearish trend again.

DSE chief executive Salahudiin Ahmed however said trading perked up.

"Turnover and trading volume are increasing, which means investor participation is also on the rise."

Square Textiles topped the turnover board, surging 10.34 per cent to Tk 139.70.

Second in line, Beximco Pharmaceuticals continued to lose, falling 4.27 per cent at Tk 107.60.

Lanka Bangla Finance ended 7.80 per cent higher at Tk 211.30.

Keya Cosmetics closed higher at Tk 96.20, up 0.20. Grameen Mutual Fund One eroded Tuesday's gains to fall 4.86 per cent.

Among the other scrips on the turnover board-Beximco, Square Pharmaceuticals and Uttara Bank-gained due to buying pressure.

AIMS 1st Mutual Fund and Islami Bank lost on profit-taking. Trading at Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed lower with the losers dominating the gainers. Huge losses in mutual funds, pharmaceuticals and cement pulled the all share index down, market analysts said.

The CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) decreased by 0.33 per cent to close at 8583.72 points. The CSE-30 Index, however, rose by 0.64 per cent to close at 7774.42 points.

A total of 141 issues were traded on CSE yesterday. Of them, 45 gained, 92 declined and only four remained unchanged.