Dhaka stocks dropped on Thursday to hit a fresh three-year low for the third consecutive day, as panic-driven investors continued offloading shares amid the prolonged bearish vibe of the market and the ongoing economic uncertainty, market operators said.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, decreased by 58.70 points, or 1.09 per cent, to close at 5,312.39 points on the day after losing 22.55 points in the previous trading session.
The key index posted its lowest on Thursday after April 15, 2021, when it was at 5,310.18 points.
The Dhaka bourse has been on a falling trend for the previous eight sessions and lost a total of 384.33 points.
With decreased selling activity of the investors, the total turnover on the DSE was Tk 508.00 crore on the day, while it was Tk聽591.62 crore in the previous trading session.
Market operators said that margin selling was one of the key reasons for the relentless fall in share prices.
The National Board of Revenue鈥檚 move on imposing capital gain tax on individual investors dampened the investors鈥� mood, they said.
Margin-selling or forced-selling refers to聽a number of situations where an individual鈥檚 assets are required to be sold.
Market operators said that investors were also reacting to the rising economic worries in the country.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country fell to $13.76 billion, with the gross reserves dropping to $18.26 billion on May 12, marking a 10-year low, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
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, also impacted the capital market negatively, 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 said.
In the past 13 weeks, the market moved forward in only three weeks.
Market operators also said that multiple other factors were working behind the bearish trend of stocks, such as lack of investor confidence and global geopolitical tensions, liquidity crisis in banks and sudden change of policies.
Of the 389 issues traded on the day, 42 advanced, 319 declined and 28 remained unchanged.
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 15.01 points, or 1.27 per cent, to close at 1,159.53 points on Thursday.
The DS30 index lost 22.23 points, or 1.15 per cent, to finish at 1,907.69 points.
On the sectoral front, food issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by pharmaceutical and textile sectors.
EBL Securities in its daily commentary said that sellers maintained their dominance across the trading floor as unnerved investors sought to minimise further losses, while the majority of scrips kept on being stuck at the revised lower circuit without having sufficient buyers.
Orion Pharma topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk 25.76 crore changing hands.
Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, Orion Infusion, Alif Industries, Simtex Industries, Beach Hatchery, Best Holdings, Rupali Life Insurance, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, and Active Fine Chemicals were the other turnover leaders.
