The highest fall in 11 months in the stock market

 At a time when the commodity market is heating up, the country's stock market is falling sharply. The Russia-Ukraine war and the international oil market have further fueled the stock market's slump since last month. 

By investing in it, some people are spreading panic among the investors in the market. As a result, a large part of general investors are selling their shares and becoming inactive in the market. Market share prices are also falling sharply due to increased selling pressure.

Due to this behavior of investors, the highest price fall in the last 11 months has taken place in the market on Monday. The main index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the main stock market, DSEX fell by 162 points or three and a quarter percent in a single day yesterday. Earlier, on April 4 last year, the DSEX index fell a maximum of 162 points, or about 3.5 percent. The index fell to 6,456 points at the end of the day due to yesterday's highest fall. On the other hand, the overall index of the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) has declined by 455 points or about two and a half percent.

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In all, in the last 13 working days, the main index of DSE has decreased by 571 points or 8%. And during the same period, the transaction decreased from Tk 1,231 crore to Tk 640 crore yesterday. Last Sunday, the transaction was 800 crore. Concerns among investors have risen as transactions have halved in 12 working days. At the same time, the regulatory body Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) is also concerned about the market.

Panic among investors has intensified as the main stock market index has fallen below the psychological threshold of 6,500 points. Speaking to top officials of several brokerage houses and merchant banks in the market, it was learned that the pressure of selling shares was high on the part of ordinary investors. They blamed the news that the price of oil in the international market has risen to ১৫ 150. However, speaking to multiple medium-sized investors, it has been reported that among the indebted investors, there is now a fear of a forced sale. Many stocks have fallen by 20 to 30 percent in the last few days. Therefore, the lending institutions have given letters of debt adjustment to the indebted investors. Many of the investors who failed to reconcile their debts were forced to sell their shares.

As a rule, lenders urge debt adjustment if the share price falls below a set limit. If the debtor investor fails to comply with the loan, then the lenders collect the loan by selling the shares in his portfolio.

On condition of anonymity, the chief executive of several brokerage houses said yesterday that many of the indebted investors had sold their shares at a loss to avoid the high interest rates in the falling market. Again, due to the continuous decline, many investors have been sitting quietly selling their shares in the last few days. Institutional investors, especially banks and financial institutions, are not very active in the market. Due to this, there has been a crisis in the market. Which also has an effect on transactions.

However, several investors have also complained that various brokerage houses are advising investors to sell their shares. In this case, the Russo-Ukrainian war and the price of oil are being raised as big issues. A section of market analysts also think that some people are trying to buy shares at low prices by spreading undue fear in the market.

According to Central Depository Bangladesh Limited (CDBL), which maintains investors' shares and BO (Beneficiary Owners) accounts, the number of non-share BO accounts in the market on February 15 was 4,35,094. That number has increased to 4 lakh 60 thousand 731 at the end of last Sunday. In other words, in 12 working days, the share zero BO account has increased to 35,736. This means that all the shares have been sold in the last 12 days from these accounts.

At this time, the information of inactive BO account being activated or opening new BO account and buying shares is not available from the statistics of CDBL. Because, the number of BO accounts that have shares in the market on 15th February was 15 lakh 1 thousand 72. At the end of last Sunday, that number has come down to 14 lakh 8 thousand 565. In other words, the BO account which has shares in the interval of 12 working days has decreased by more than 24 thousand.

Asked about the market situation, BSEC spokesperson Mohammad Rezaul Karim told Prothom Alo that there was a sudden turmoil in the market. The flow of money has also decreased a bit. In the last few days, there has been a big correction in the share price. In this situation, there is no logical reason for further decline in the market. In addition, the regulatory body is making various efforts to activate institutional investors to increase money supply in the market. Besides, rumors circulating in the market are being scrutinized to see if anyone is terrorizing investors.

Meanwhile, yesterday's fall in the Dhaka market was so terrible that only 8 out of 369 companies traded on the day, the price has risen. And without discrimination, the prices have dropped to 364 or 98 percent. Among them, shares of big capital companies like Lafarge Holcim, Grameenphone, Square Pharma, Beximco Pharma have also declined significantly. Which has had a major negative impact on the index.

Former BSEC chairman Farooq Ahmed Siddiqui feels that a kind of fear has been created or created among investors. Otherwise, there is no logical reason for the country's stock market to collapse as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war. He also thinks that when the market rose steadily from 4,000 points to 6,000, there was no logical reason for that. The price of various shares has been unreasonably increased through manipulation. So investors were always worried that the fall could happen at any time. For this reason, when the recession occurred, the panic increased. Maybe some people are using it for their own benefit. Therefore, the regulatory body should increase surveillance in the market.