Dhaka stocks witnessed another fall on Sunday to hit its lowest turnover in five months, as well a fresh three-year low in its key index for the fourth consecutive session, as anxious investors continued selling shares to protect their funds amid the ongoing volatile market momentum, market operators said.
With the decreased activity of investors, the total turnover of the Dhaka Stock Exchange was Tk聽322.75 crore on the day.
Before Sunday, the previous lowest total turnover of the Dhaka bourse was on January 3 at Tk聽292.14 crore.
The total turnover of the DSE in the previous trading session was Tk聽508.00 crore, on May 23.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, decreased by 61.54 points, or 1.15 per cent, to close at 5,250.84 points on Sunday after losing 58.70 points in the previous trading session.
The key index hit below 5,300 points mark on Sunday for the first time after 2021.
The Dhaka bourse has been on a falling trend for the previous nine sessions and lost a total of 445.87 points.
Market operators said that forced sale pressure at the brokerage houses was one of the main reasons for the continued fall in share prices.
The news of National Board of Revenue鈥檚 possible move on imposing capital gain tax on individual investors dampened the investors鈥� mood, they said.
Forced selling or forced liquidation usually entails the involuntary sales of聽assets聽or securities to create聽liquidity.
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 already subdued confidence of the investors was further negatively impacted after the Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 decision on increasing repo rates, which might lead to interest rate hikes on the money market.
The devaluation of the taka against the US dollar might add to the depressed state of the market, they said.
In the past 14 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 382 issues traded on the day, 31 advanced, 322 declined and 29 remained unchanged.
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 13.06 points, or 1.12 per cent, to close at 1,146.47 points on Sunday.
The DS30 index lost 18.98 points, or 0.99 per cent, to finish at 1,888.71 points.
On the sectoral front, food issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by pharmaceutical and textile sectors.
EBL Securities in its daily commentary said, 鈥楾he market extended its downturn as investors shied away from taking positions in equities while losses continued to mount on their portfolios amid the majority of scrips turning into falling knives and being stuck at the revised lower circuit without having sufficient buyers.鈥�
Orion Pharma topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk聽20.92 crore changing hands.
British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company, Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, Unilever Consumer Care, Reliance One the first scheme of Reliance Insurance Mutual Fund, Orion Infusion,
Best Holdings, Simtex Industries, Alif Industries and Square Pharmaceuticals were the other turnover leaders.
