The Dhaka stock market lost its foothold above 5,400 on Monday as renewed selling pressure pushed the benchmark index to its lowest level in more than three months, reflecting growing investor caution over the country’s energy situation and renewed geopolitical tensions in the Gulf.
The DSEX, the broad index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), fell 39.6 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 5,379 from 5,419 in the previous session.
The decline came despite active trading at the beginning of the session, as the attempted recovery quickly lost momentum and sellers remained dominant for the rest of the trading day.
The weakness was broad-based, with 296 of the 395 traded issues declining, while only 54 advanced and 45 remained unchanged.
Market turnover also weakened sharply, falling 14.8 per cent to Tk486.6 crore from Tk571.3 crore a session earlier. The number of trades dropped to 1,61,568 from 1,82,186, while trading volume declined to 18.6 crore shares from 23.6 crore.
The total market capitalisation of the DSE stood at Tk6,85,100 crore, down from Tk6,86,300 crore in the previous session.
The DSE 30 Index fell 9.2 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 2,063, while the DSE SME Index declined 11.8 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 1,020.
The SME index remained comparatively stronger on a longer-term basis, gaining 19.2 per cent year-to-date and 11.1 per cent over the past year. In contrast, the DSE 30 Index was down 3.1 per cent over the past year.
Textile stocks dominated trading, accounting for 25.4 per cent of total turnover. General insurance followed with 15 per cent and banks with 13.4 per cent.
Most sectors posted negative returns, with Mutual Fund (-3.5%), Life Insurance (-3.2%) and Miscellaneous (-2.7%) recording the steepest corrections, while Travel (0.6%) and Bank (0.2%) posted marginal gains.
Unlike the Dhaka market, turnover on the Chittagong Stock Exchange increased 49.9 per cent to Tk21.3 crore from Tk14.2 crore. Trading volume rose to 51.96 lakh shares from 33.41 lakh, although the number of trades edged down to 1,428 from 1,432.
Among the top gainers, Standard Insurance Limited rose 6.79 per cent, followed by Bangladesh National Insurance Company Limited, which gained 5.71 per cent, and Al-Arafah Islami Bank PLC, which advanced 5.37 per cent.
Capital Asset Management Company Limited BDBL Mutual Fund was the biggest loser, falling 8.86 per cent, followed by Beximco Limited, which declined 8.02 per cent, and Standard Ceramic Industries Limited, which dropped 7.25 per cent.
