Stock index hits four-month low

The prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) hit a four-month low today as the cautious investors poured their funds only on selective shares amid fears of a further price erosion.
The shares of the large-cap and blue-chip companies like BRAC Bank, Olympic Industries, Beacon Pharmaceuticals, Islami Bank, Square Pharmaceuticals, Best Holdings, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, Robi Axiata, United Commercial Bank and Renata suffered losses.
Of them, BRAC Bank was the highest loser with a 10.51 percent fall, according to LankaBangla Financial Portal.
Shares of Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream PLC, Bangladesh Steel Re-rolling Mills (BSRM), Unilever Consumer Care Limited, Midland Bank, DBH Finance, Jamuna Bank, SK Trims & Industries, Singer Bangladesh, Takaful Islami Insurance and Meghna Petroleum Limited attracted the highest number of investors.
But none of them saw a double-digit growth in share prices.
Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream PLC posted a gain of 0.95 percent, the highest amongst the gainers.
The DSEX, the benchmark of the DSE, fell for the fourth consecutive day and today it plunged by 97.24 points, or 1.85 percent from the previous day to close at 5,160.
The last time the DSEX had reached such a level was on June 19, when it hit 5,161.
Similarly, DSES, the index that represents the Shariah-based companies, went down by 18.56 points, or 1.58 percent, to 1,155, while the DS30 index for the blue-chip firms edged down by 34.14 points, or 1.77 percent, to 1,896.
Of the issues that changed hands on the DSE trading floor, 346 fell, 27 remained higher and the remaining 27 did not see any price fluctuations.
Turnover, which indicates the total value of shares traded on the day, stood at Tk 362 crore, an increase of 18.09 percent compared to the previous day.
The banking sector dominated the turnover chart accounting for 26.06 percent of the total.
Block trades, which refer to the high-volume securities transactions that are privately negotiated and executed outside of the open market, contributed 4.6 percent of the overall market turnover.
Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream PLC emerged as the most traded share with a turnover of Tk 34.5 crore.
Sector-wise, only the non-bank financial institution (NBFI) sector closed in a positive territory, according to the daily market update by UCB Stock Brokerage.
However, the paper & printing, the services & real estate, and general insurance were the top three sectors that closed in the negative.
Most of the sectors that account for large amounts in market capitalisation showcased negative performances, as per the daily market update of BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage.
The engineering sector experienced the highest loss of 2.63 percent, followed by the fuel & power 2.42 percent, the banking sector 1.93 percent, pharmaceuticals 1.75 percent, telecom 1.19 percent, and the food & allied 0.67 percent.
However, NBFI logged a gain of 3.65 percent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw a similar downward trend as the CSE All-Share Price Index, the broad index of the port city bourse, dropped by 271.54 points, or 1.83 percent, to settle at 14,549.