Dhaka stocks dropped for the fourth consecutive session on Thursday, as a section of investors continued selling shares to protect their funds amid the ongoing economic uncertainty and volatile market momentum, market operators said.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, decreased by 9.98 points, or 0.18 per cent, to close at 5,517.41 points on the day after losing 58.22 points in the previous trading session.
The key index on Thursday posted its lowest after May 3, 2021, when it was at 5,511.36 points.
With the investors slightly increasing their activity on the day, the total turnover of the Dhaka bourse on the day rose to Tk聽676.79 crore.
The total turnover in the previous session was Tk聽526.33 crore.
The turnover on the previous day was the lowest after April 25, when it was Tk聽511.43 crore.
To discuss the current market situation, the Dhaka bourse held a meeting with the DSE Brokers Association of Bangladesh on Wednesday.
In the meeting, DBA members highlighted the current problems of the capital market and urged the DSE to solve the problems on a priority basis.
Market operators said that the market were continuously falling as the investors were reacting to rising economic worries in the country.
In the past 12 weeks, the market moved forward in only three weeks, including the past two weeks.
Market operators said that the Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 decision on increasing repo rates, which might lead to interest rate hikes on the money market, would not be helpful for the capital market, as investors might shift funds to banks.
The devaluation of the taka against the US dollar might add to the depressed state of the market, they added.
They also said that multiple other factors were working behind the bearish trend of stocks, such as lack of investor confidence amid economic woes in the country and global geopolitical tensions, liquidity crisis in banks and sudden change of policies.
Of the 394 issues traded on the day, 122 advanced, 215 declined and 57 remained unchanged.
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 0.80 points, or 0.06 per cent, to close at 1,212.16 points on Thursday.
The DS30 index lost 3.79 points, or 0.19 per cent, to finish at 1,973.99 points.
On the sectoral front, pharmaceutical issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by food and textile stocks.
EBL Securities in its daily commentary said that the market remained dominated by sellers on Thursday, driven by investors鈥� negative market sentiment that continued to persist stemming from proposed amendments to margin loan regulations and the proposal of imposing tax on capital gains above an amount, leading the bear to stay in the controlling position to conclude the session in negative territory.
Asiatic Laboratories topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk聽46.23 crore changing hands.
Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, eGeneration, Navana Pharmaceuticals, Far East Knitting & Dyeing Industries, Orion Infusion, Beach Hatchery, Pragati Life Insurance, Sonali Aansh Industries and Golden Son were the other turnover leaders.
