Stock Market Trading Falls Along with Index: Investors Ask, ‘Who Is the New Darbesh Now?’

Staff Reporter

On Sunday, the first working day of the week, the indices of the country’s two capital markets fell. At the same time, the volume of transactions decreased. On this day, the main price index DSEX on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) fell 49 points to 5,482 points.

Among the other two DSE indices, the Shariah Index fell 10 points to 1,089 points and the DSE-30 Index fell 18 points to 2,085 points.

Shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 542.98 crore were traded on the DSE today. The previous working day’s trading volume was Tk 723.11 crore. As a result, trading volume decreased by about Tk 181 crore in a single working day.

The stock market’s dire situation is not going away. Investor confidence is not returning either. Along with the anger, many investors have raised questions about the honesty and efficiency of policymakers.

An investor named Rafiul Islam said, “During the Awami League government, I used to hear that thousands of crores of taka of capital was disappearing from the stock market due to dervish. Now that government is gone, so who is the new dervish now?”

“Why have thousands of investors like me not been able to withdraw capital from the stock market in the last two years? What is our future?” he asked.

Units of 385 companies and mutual funds were traded on the DSE on Sunday. Of these, 66 increased in price, 291 decreased in price, and 28 remained unchanged.

The top companies in terms of transactions were Sayham Textile, Paramount Textile, Malek Spinning, Domination Steel, Sonali Life, Sena Insurance, Sonali Ansh, Matin Spinning, Sayham Cotton and IPDC.

On the other hand, the overall price index CASPI of the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) fell by 171 points to stand at 14,660 points. Shares and units of 171 companies were traded on the CSE today. Of these, 40 increased in price, 114 decreased and 17 remained unchanged.

Shares and units worth Tk 133.2 crore were traded on the CSE on Sunday. The previous working day, the transaction was Tk 157.7 crore. As a result, the transaction on the CSE decreased by about Tk 24.5 crore in the span of one working day.