Dhaka stocks witnessed a big fall on Monday, going below the 5,800-point mark in its key index, as investors went for selling shares heavily after trading on the Dhaka Stock Exchange resumed after a five-day closure, market operators said.
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.
DSEX, the key index of the DSE, decreased by 1.45 per cent, or 85.31 points, to close at 5,778.76 points on Monday.
The Dhaka bourse had gained 3.85 points and closed at 5,864.08 points on April 9, the last trading session before the five-day closure.
Market operators said that the indices started the session with a nosedive and continued the negative trend throughout the trading session to end in the negative trajectory.
The turnover on the DSE decreased to Tk聽367.53 crore compared with that of Tk聽443.84 crore in the previous trading session.
Before the week before the closure, the DSE was on a losing streak for seven consecutive weeks with a total decrease of 595.03 points in its key index.
The ongoing economic crisis of the country and global geopolitical tensions are major reasons for the investors being rattled on the trading floor, market operators said.
They 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.
The total market capitalisation stood at Tk 6,79,551.60 crore on Monday, while it was Tk聽7,80,823.42 crore on the first trading session of 2024.
Of the 395 issues traded on the day, 32 advanced, 336 declined and 27 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, 鈥楻isk-averse investors preferred to reduce their capital market exposure owing to concerns regarding the market outlook, while most investors remained on the sidelines in order to observe the direction of the market trend.鈥�
Investors were rattled on the trading floor, being wary of the probable impact of the prevailing geopolitical crisis on the market鈥檚 momentum, it added.
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 16.27 points, or 1.26 per cent, to close at 1,266.01 points on Monday.
The DS30 index gained 17.48 points, or 0.86 per cent, to finish at 2,014.89 points.
Fu Wang Food Ltd topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk 17.76 crore changing hands.
Malek Spinning Mills PLC, Karnaphuli Insurance Company Ltd, Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream PLC, Shinepukur Ceramics Limited, Kohinoor Chemicals Company (Bangladesh) Ltd, Alif Industries Limited, Central Pharmaceuticals Limited, Asiatic Laboratories Limited and Orion Infusion Ltd were the other turnover leaders.