Dhaka stocks decreased for the fifth consecutive week in the past week, as a section of investors continued selling shares amid worries, market operators said.
They said that investors were suffering from a confidence crisis amid a prolonged downward trend in the market.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 143.38 points, or 2.73 per cent, in the past week to end at 5,114.60 points.
The DSEX lost about 620 points in the past five weeks.
The Dhaka bourse operated in five sessions in the past week, among which it gained in two sessions and lost in the other three.
Stockbrokers said that higher bank interest rates introduced by the Bangladesh Bank had made it more appealing to invest in fixed-income options instead of the stock market.
They said that investors usually turned to the bank sector for more profits when the interest rate increased.
Amid the selling spree, the daily average turnover on the DSE increased in the past week to reach Tk聽338.68 crore compared with that of Tk 318.00 crore in the previous week.
Of the 396 issues traded in the past week, 63 increased, 306 decreased and 27 stayed the same.
Investors were mostly active in bank scrips, followed by pharmaceutical and food shares.
EBL Securities in its weekly market commentary said, 鈥楧espite ongoing regulatory meetings with different stakeholders to improve investors鈥� confidence, the recent policy rate hike to 10.0 per cent by the central bank and political uncertainty further exacerbated investors bearish market sentiment.鈥�
The DS30 index decreased by 51.22 points, or 2.65 per cent, to finish at 1,879.18 points.
The DSE Shariah index lost 30.12 points, or 2.57 per cent, to close at 1,144.01 points in the past week.
Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream topped the average weekly turnover chart with shares worth Tk聽28.23 crore changing hands per session.
Agni Systems, NRB Bank, Square Pharmaceuticals, Grameenphone, BRAC Bank, Midland Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh, The IBN SINA Pharmaceutical Industry and Far East Knitting & Dyeing Industries聽were the other turnover leaders.