Dhaka stocks witnessed a huge decrease in the past week, losing ground for the fourth consecutive week, as a section of investors continued selling shares to prevent further erosion in their portfolios, market operators said.
They mentioned that investors were looking for alternatives to the stock market as heightened interest rate offered more profits in the other financial sectors.
Additionally, investors were cautious in choosing stocks, closely monitoring the actions taken by the Bangladesh Securities Exchange and Commission against companies violating securities laws, they added.
Market operators, however, said that these regulatory actions were positive for the market, considering their long-term impacts.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 164.08 points, or 3.03 per cent, in the past week to end at 5,257.98 points. The DSEX lost about 477 points in the past four weeks.
The Dhaka bourse operated in four sessions in the past week instead of usual five sessions, as trading on the bourse remained closed on October 13 on the occasion of Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community in Bangladesh.
Ashequr Rahman, managing director of Midway Securities, said that the Bangladesh Bank announced that the central bank would increase the policy rate twice and the interest rate once in October.
鈥榃hen the interest rate increases, investors turn to the bank sector for more profits. This is normal,鈥� he said.
鈥楳oreover, the overall economic situation is not in a good condition. Unrests are still going on in various parts of the country. Business costs are going up, which will reflect in the next quarterly declarations. Investors are looking for better options,鈥� Ashequr added.
The daily average turnover on the DSE declined in the past week to reach Tk聽318.00 crore compared with that of Tk 366.68 crore in the previous week.
Of the 396 issues traded in the past week, 34 increased, 345 decreased and 17 stayed the same.
Investors were mostly active in bank scrips, followed by pharmaceutical and IT shares.
EBL Securities in its weekly market commentary said, 鈥業nvestors preferred to trim their equity exposures and adopted a wait-and-see approach amid uncertainties surrounding earnings declarations for June-ending companies. Additionally, macroeconomic and regulatory uncertainties acted as negative catalysts that ignited the selling spree, allowing the bears to retain control for a prolonged period.鈥�
The DS30 index decreased by 54.59 points, or 2.75 per cent, to finish at 1,930.40 points.
The DSE Shariah index lost 31.74 points, or 2.63 per cent, to close at 1,174.13 points in the past week.
Agni Systems topped the average weekly turnover chart with shares worth Tk聽23.04 crore changing hands per session.
Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, Techno Drugs, BRAC Bank, NRB Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh, Grameenphone, Asiatic Laboratories, Square Pharmaceuticals, and Social Islami Bank聽were the other turnover leaders.