Dhaka stocks fell down for the fourth consecutive session on Thursday to hit a nearly three-year low, as most of the investors continued offloading shares amid economic worries in the country and global geopolitical tensions, market operators said.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 77.08 points, or 1.33 per cent, to close at 5,686.68 points on the day after losing 10.80 points in the previous trading session.
Market operators said that the indices started the session with a slight hike, but witnessed a sharp fall immediately as the selling increased and continued throughout the trading session, ultimately finishing the session in the negative territory.
Thursday鈥檚 index was the lowest after May 9, 2021 when it was at 5,645.69 points.
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.
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.
Market operators said that rising interest rates in banks might have prompted investors to shift their funds to the sector.
They also 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 turnover on the DSE increased to Tk聽522.51 crore compared with that of Tk聽482.53 crore in the previous trading session.
Of the 395 issues traded on the day, 29 advanced, 342 declined and 24 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, 鈥楯ittery investors are rattled by the rising tensions over the Middle-East geopolitical crisis and its probable economic impacts that can potentially affect the market outlook.鈥�
鈥楳oreover, the market has been wading through a prolonged downbeat vibe, and such subdued market sentiment is yet to rebound until there are significant catalysts to counter the prevailing pessimism pervading across the trading floor,鈥� it added.
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 15.85 points, or 1.25 per cent, to close at 1,246.55 points on Thursday.
The DS30 index lost 22.77 points, or 1.13 per cent, to finish at 1,984.56 points.
Asiatic Laboratories topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk聽39.22 crore changing hands.
Best Holdings, Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, Alif Industries, Golden Son, Central Pharmaceuticals, Fu Wang Food, Prime Finance First Mutual Fund, Fu-Wang Ceramic Industries and Malek Spinning Mills were the other turnover leaders.
