Market operators said a large section of retail investors went for bulk sale on the day as the continued downtrend in the market since the past week and the lack of corrective measure on the part of the regulators and the government infused them with the fear that the market would slip further.
'Investors have lost the trust they seemed to have regained in the past two months. The government's hush-hush policy about the probe report and the power wielded by the alleged manipulators pushed them into a state of utter frustration,' remarked an official at a brokerage house.
Many of the general investors who went for heavy sale on the day did so with an intention to leave the market and stay away from it until they perceived it was becoming stable and suitable for investment. They also expressed their frustration over the government's role about the probe report.
'The government has proven itself gutless as it could not came up with any action in two long weeks after submission of the report to assure the investors that it was working on the issue,' remarked an investor in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange building.
He said, 'The government's words do not match its actions, due to which we are losing track of market trait and its direction.'
The benchmark general index, or DGEN, of the country's premier bourse lost 116.29 points, or 1.87 per cent, to close the day at 6,076.31 points.
The turnover on the day, however, increased to Tk 631.10 crore from that of Tk 476.82 crore on Thursday, the previous trading day, due to the rush to sell off shares.
Most of the scrip, except Beximco, lost much value on the day. All the five issues of Beximco Group witnessed an unprecedented rise posting a Tk 183.14 crore turnover, which was 29 per cent of the total turnover of the bourse on the day.
The day saw Beximco rising by 6.98 per cent, Bextex by 9.63 per cent, Shinepukur Ceramics Limited by 9.07 per cent, Beximco Synthetic by 6.40 per cent, and Beximco Pharma by 7.85 per cent.
Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, a finance teacher of Dhaka University, said, 'Investors are clueless about the market's prospect as different quarters concerned had been issuing different statements from their own stance.'
He also called for keeping the market under strong surveillance at this time to avoid further volatility.
'When the overall market is negative, surveillance against unusual price hike of any scrip is a priority to prevent any possible manipulation,' the former chief executive officer of the DSE maintained.
Akter H Sannamat, a capital market analyst, said, 'On Sunday, the investors became more discouraged than ever following the finance minister's remark about reforming the Securities and Exchange Commission.'
'The government should come up with a positive attitude to address the situation and restore investors' confidence,' he said.
Out of the total 255 issues traded on the day, 23 advanced, 227 suffered heavy loss, and five remained unchanged.
Source: New Age
