Dhaka stocks lost heavily in the first week after the closure of Eid-ul-Fitr, as most of the investors continued offloading shares amid economic worries in the country and global geopolitical tensions, market operators said.
Market operators said that the prevailing uncertainties, stemming from economic and political factors, contributed to a subdued atmosphere, affecting investor confidence and engagement in the market.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 177.40 points, or 3.03 per cent, over the past week to close at 5,686.69 points on April 18 after losing 163.34 points in the previous week before Eid.
The market hit its lowest on April 18, standing at 5,686.68 points after May 9, 2021, when it was at 5,645.69 points.
The Dhaka bourse remained closed from April 10 to April 14 on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals of the Muslims, Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bengali New Year, and weekly holidays.
In the four trading sessions in the week, all the four sessions experienced decrease in the key index.
Before Eid, stocks remained bearish for seven weeks, losing a total of 595.03 points.
Market operators said that most of the sessions in the past week saw less participation of investors.
They said that rising interest rates in banks might have prompted investors to shift their funds from the sector.
They said that multiple other factors were working behind the prolonged bearish trend of the stocks, such as lack of investor confidence, increase in the lending rate, liquidity crisis in banks, crisis in foreign exchange reserves, sudden change of policies and ongoing global economic uncertainties.
They pointed out force sales in the brokerage houses as another key point for the down vibe on the market.
Out of the total 412 issues, 89 advanced, 285 declined and 21 remained unchanged in the past week.
The daily average turnover on the DSE slightly increased, by 9.97 per cent to Tk聽478.20 crore in the past week compared with that of Tk聽434.84 crore in the previous week.
Investors were mostly active in pharmaceutical scrips, followed by textile and food shares.
EBL Securities in its weekly market commentary said, 鈥楾he market witnessed the dominance of sellers throughout the week as investor confidence remained shaky, leading the bear to retain its controlling position.鈥�
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 35.74 points, or 2.79 per cent, to close at 1,246.56 points.
The DS30 index saw a gain by 47.81 points, or 2.35 per cent, to finish at 1,984.57 points.
Asiatic Laboratories topped the average weekly turnover chart with shares worth Tk 23.46 crore daily changing hands.
Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, Alif Industries, Best Holdings, Fu Wang Food,
Fu-Wang Ceramic Industries, Golden Son, Central Pharmaceuticals, Shinepukur Ceramics and Beacon Pharmaceuticals were the other turnover leaders.
