Dhaka stocks continued its losing streak in the past week posting three fresh record lows in its key index, as panic driven investors continued selling shares to protect their funds amid economic worries in the country and global geopolitical tensions.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 168.21 points, or 2.96 per cent, over the past week, and fell below 5,600 points in nearly three years to close at 5,518.48 points on April 25, after losing 177.40 points in the previous week.
The market hit three fresh low records, on April 23, April 24 and April 25. The lowest was on April 25, at 5,518.48 points after May 3, 2021, when it was at 5,511.36 points.
Market operators said that the prevailing uncertainties, stemming from economic and political factors, and decision to impose circuit breaker limit by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission contributed to a subdued atmosphere, affecting investor confidence and engagement on the market.
The BSEC on April 24 restricted share price fall at maximum 3 per cent for all companies but those which are still under floor price restriction.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange operated on five trading sessions in the past week, among which only one session on April 22 witnessed gained in the key index, while the rest experienced decreases.
The Dhaka bourse lost a total of 345.61 points in the past two weeks alone. In the past 10 weeks, the DSE gained in only one week before Eid-ul-Fitr while it remained bearish for the other nine weeks.
The Dhaka bourse remained closed from April 10 to 14 on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals of the Muslims, Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bengali New Year, and weekly holidays.
Market operators said that rising interest rates in banks might have prompted investors to shift their funds from the sector.
They said that multiple 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 sale in the brokerage houses as another key point for the downward vibe on the market.
Forced selling or forced liquidation usually entails involuntary sale of聽assets聽or securities to create聽liquidity.
A senior official of a brokerage house said that the overall economic situation of the country was going through a negative trend.
鈥楶eople are facing severe hardships with their daily lives due to high level of inflation. With the ongoing financial distress, investors are not much eager in the capital markets,鈥� the official said.
Out of the 394 issues, 57 advanced, 327 declined and 10 remained unchanged in the past week.
With the domination of sellers, the weekly turnover of DSE increased by 15.64 per cent to reach Tk聽2,764.90 crore in the past week compared with that of Tk聽1,912.81 crore in the previous week.
Investors were mostly active in pharmaceutical scrips, followed by food, and textile shares.
EBL Securities in its weekly market commentary said, 鈥楾he capital bourse concluded the week, experiencing some buying appetite from bargain hunters, particularly in small paid-up stocks, anticipating short-term gain opportunities following the prolonged correction in the market.鈥�
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 29.29 points, or 2.35 per cent, to close at 1,217.27 points in the past week.
The DS30 index saw lost by 10.06 points, or 0.51 per cent, to finish at 1,974.51 points.
Asiatic Laboratories topped the average weekly turnover chart with shares worth Tk聽31.27 crore daily changing hands.
Orion Infusion, Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, Golden Son, Alif Industries, Best Holdings, Malek Spinning Mills, Salvo Chemical Industry, Kohinoor Chemicals Company (Bangladesh)聽and Beach Hatchery were the other turnover leaders.