Dhaka stocks dropped for the second consecutive session on Tuesday, as panic driven investors started selling shares to protect their funds amid the ongoing economic uncertainty, market operators said.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, decreased by 81.14 points, or 1.43 per cent, to close at 5,585.61 points on the day after losing 29.96 points in the previous trading session.
The total turnover of the Dhaka bourse on the day decreased to Tk聽664.36 crore on the day, which was Tk聽968.02 crore in the previous session.
Many investors were showing reluctance to be actively involved in the market, which led the turnover to reach its lowest after April.
Before Tuesday, the lowest turnover on the Dhaka bourse was Tk 663.43 crore on April 29, 2024.
Market operators said that investors were reacting to rising economic worries in the country.
In the past 12 weeks, the market moved forward in only three weeks, including the past two weeks.
Market operators said that the Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 decision on increasing repo rates, which may lead to interest rate hikes in the money market, would not be helpful for the capital market, as investors might shift funds to banks.
The devaluation of the taka against the dollar might add to the depressed state of the market, they added.
They also said that multiple other factors were working behind the bearish trend of stocks, such as lack of investor confidence amid economic woes in the country and global geopolitical tensions, liquidity crisis in banks and sudden change of policies.
Of the 399 issues traded on the day, 31 advanced, 343 declined and 25 remained unchanged.
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 15.76 points, or 1.26 per cent, to close at 1,225.76 points on Tuesday.
The DS30 index lost 26.04 points, or 1.29 per cent, to finish at 1,991.92 points.
On the sectoral front, pharmaceutical issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by textile and food stocks.
EBL securities in its daily commentary said, 鈥楽ellers remained predominant right from the start of Tuesday鈥檚 session as they were wary of the market鈥檚 outlook, which led the majority of scrips to get stuck at the revised lower circuit without having sufficient buyers.鈥�
eGeneration topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk聽28.18 crore changing hands.
Orion Infusion, Navana Pharmaceuticals, Advent Pharma, Kohinoor Chemicals Company (Bangladesh) Ltd, Best Holdings, SK Trims & Industries, Golden Harvest Agro Industries, Orion Pharma and Paramount Insurance Company were the other turnover leaders.