More than one lakh investors have emptied their beneficiary owner鈥檚 accounts of shares since the beginning of 2024 amid prolonged bearish vibe on the market and economic woes in the country.
The number of BO accounts with zero share balance on January 1 was 2,96,901, which increased to 3,98,785 till Sunday, according to Central Depository Bangladesh Limited data.
The number of total BO accounts on Sunday was 17,88,244, while total operable BO accounts stood at 17,73,551 accounts on January 1.
Opening a BO account with the CDBL through a depository participant, which is usually a stockbroker or a merchant bank, is a must for trading shares at the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges.
The DSE market capitalisation also fell by Tk聽1,34,473.40 crore during this period.
Market operators said that the persistent drop in share prices on stock exchanges led to investor frustration, panic and losses, intensifying concerns about the capital market.
The total market capitalisation on January 1 was Tk聽7,80,823.41 crore, which decreased to Tk聽6,46,350.01聽crore as of Sunday.
Market operators said that lack of confidence among investors, rising interest rates, poor performance of the listed companies along with other issues were impacting the market negatively.
AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a former Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, told 抖阴精品 that there were many issues which investors took into consideration.
鈥楴ot many enlisted companies are giving good dividends. On the other hand, investors could make sure profits if they put their money in banks,鈥� he said.
Mentioning growing economic concerns in the country, he said that a number of national budget proposals, including low gross domestic product growth estimate, dampened the investors鈥� mood.
Rumours about the National Board of Revenue imposing capital gains tax raised concerns, which turned into disappointment after the finance minister proposed the capital gains tax on general investors on June 6 while placing the budget proposal at the Jatiya Sangsad, market operators said.
They said that continued depletion of the country鈥檚 foreign exchange reserves also took a toll on the investors鈥� mind, and the devaluation of the taka against the US dollar might worsen the situation.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, foreign investment in the country鈥檚 capital market halved over the past two years.
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.
Since January 1, DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka bourse, has lost a total of 995.74 points to stand at 5,247.13 points on Sunday.
