Dhaka stocks continued to fall for the fifth consecutive trading session on Sunday, and hit a fresh three-year low, as investors were unsure of the market momentum and kept offloading shares amid economic worries in the country and global geopolitical tensions, market operators said.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 32.97 points, or 0.57 per cent, to close at 5,653.71 points on the day after losing 77.08 points in the previous trading session.
Sunday鈥檚 index was the lowest after May 9, 2021 when it was at 5,645.69 points.
In the past nine weeks, the Dhaka bourse witnessed decrease in the indices in a total of eight weeks, while gaining only in the one week before Eid-ul-Fitr.
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.
Market operators said that rising interest rates in banks might have prompted investors to shift their funds to the sector.
They also said that multiple other factors were working behind the bearish trend of stocks, such as lack of investor confidence, liquidity crisis in banks and sudden change of policies.
As participation of the investors decreased, the turnover on the DSE saw a fall to Tk 478.23 crore on Sunday compared with that of Tk 522.51 crore in the previous trading session.
Of the 393 issues traded on the day, 75 advanced, 285 declined and 33 remained unchanged.
On the sectoral front, pharmaceutical issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by textile and food stocks.
EBL Securities in its daily market commentary said, 鈥楥autious investors are being observant ahead of the upcoming corporate earnings declarations and seeking quick gain opportunities, taking advantage of the prolonged corrections in the market.鈥�
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 8.01 points, or 0.64 per cent, to close at 1,238.54 points on Sunday.
The DS30 index lost 2.13 points, or 0.10 per cent, to finish at 1,982.43 points.
Asiatic Laboratories topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk 29.06 crore changing hands.
Golden Son, Salvo Chemical Industry, Alif Industries, Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, Robi Axiata, Fu-Wang Ceramic Industries, Best Holdings, Paramount Insurance Company and Central Pharmaceuticals were the other turnover leaders.
