Stocks slump on chilling report

he benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange suffered the biggest single-day fall in four years yesterday, a day after the World Bank's negative forecast about the country's economy.

The World Bank said on Wednesday Bangladesh's export growth might fall by 4.3 percentage points and remittance inflows by 20 percentage points this fiscal year from a year ago due to the global economic meltdown.

WB's Dhaka office also depicted a scenario of the likely impact of the global economic rout on the export growth, remittance, balance of payments, budget and GDP.

“It appeared that the investors got panicked by World Bank's negative forecast,” said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, chief executive officer of DSE.

Abu Ahmed, professor of economics at Dhaka University, said the forecasts by donor agencies such as World Bank and International Monetary Fund about Bangladesh's economy went wrong last year.

The latest projection about the economy by the World Bank will also be proven wrong, he said.

Ahmed also said many retail investors had already left the capital market. “Institutional investors will have to come forward to bring back vibrancy to the market,” he said.

Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam on Wednesday also ruled out the WB prediction on slowing GDP growth in the face of the economic downturn.

The DSE General Index yesterday nose-dived by 100.38 points, or 3.92 percent, to 2,459.48 points. The DSE All Share Price Index also plunged 81.77 points, or 3.86 percent, to 2,035.42 points. Almost all the securities traded down on the premier bourse. Of the 238 traded scrips, only five advanced, 231 declined and two remained unchanged. A total of 2,34,12,778 shares worth Tk 261.87 crore changed hands on the DSE. Chittagong stocks also recorded a sharp fall yesterday. The CSE Selective Categories Index went down 193.21 points, or 3.72 percent, to 4,988.6 points. The CSE All Share Price Index went down 276.81 points, or 3.47 percent, to 7,683.83 points. A total of 44,03,810 shares worth Tk 41.24 crore changed hands on the port city bourse. Of the 126 traded issues, only six advanced, 119 declined and one remained unchanged.