DSEX dips below 5,000-mark as sale pressure mounted

Stocks witnessed yet another big fall on Monday with key index plunged below the 5,000-mark as investors continued their selling binge to escape further fall.

DSEX, the core index of the DSE, lost 67.30 points or 1.33 per cent to settle at 31 months’ lowest level at 4,966 since December 22, 2016.

DSEX also fell 97 points on Sunday, the biggest single-day slump in the last 17 months.

The sharp decline in index prompted the stock market regulator to form a committee on Sunday to detect the reasons for the recent ‘unusual’ market trend, but the news failed to stop the market decline on Monday.

Market operators said investors continued their selling spree amid lack of confidence and liquidity crisis in the money market.

In line with the previous session, the market started falling sharply from the beginning of Monday’s session to close the session deep into the negative zone.

Two other indices also fell sharply. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, lost 23.26 points to finish at 1,776 and the DSE Shariah Index shed 18.33 points to close at 1,139.

Turnover, another important indicator of the market, however, rose to Tk 4.64 billion, which was 26 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 3.68 billion.

The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 353 issues traded, 277 closed lower, 60 advanced and 16 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.