Dhaka stocks fell on Wednesday after advancing marginally in the previous two trading sessions, as cautious investors chose to remain on the sideline amid rising economic concerns in the country, market operators said.
They said that investors also remained watchful before the announcement of the national budget.
Finance minister Abul Hasaan Mahmood Ali will place the national budget for the financial year 2024-25 before parliament today.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, decreased by 23.16 points, or 0.44 per cent, to close at 5,224.36 points on Wednesday after gaining 11.89 points in the previous trading session.
Due to a decrease in investors鈥� activity, the total turnover on the bourse dived to Tk聽381.34 crore, a decrease by more than Tk 200 crore compared with that in the previous session.
The Dhaka bourse posted a total of Tk聽593.03 crore as its total turnover on Tuesday.
Market operators said that on Wednesday, the stock market experienced an upward trend during the first one hour of the trading session.
However, the market fell after the first hour and exhibited significant volatility, ultimately ending in the negative trajectory, they said.
They attributed this instability to mounting economic worries, particularly the continued decline in the country鈥檚 foreign exchange reserves, which had dampened investor sentiment.
Bangladesh Bank data revealed that foreign investment in the country鈥檚 capital market had plummeted by 50 per cent over the past two years.
Over the past 15 weeks, the market had advanced in just three of those weeks.
Furthermore, investors are adopting a cautious approach and closely monitoring the market trend as Eid-ul-Azha, one of the biggest religious festivals of the Muslims, is approaching, market operators said.
Of the 397 issues traded on the day, 98 advanced, 247 declined and 52 remained unchanged.
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 7.21 points, or 0.63 per cent, to close at 1,135.52 points on Wednesday.
The DS30 index witnessed increase, by 1.81 points or 0.09 per cent, to finish at 1,854.38 points.
On the sectoral front, pharmaceutical issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by the life insurance shares.
EBL Securities in its daily commentary said, 鈥楾he market remained dominated by sellers throughout the session since investors preferred to remain watchful and monitor the market momentum owing to uncertainties leading up to the national budget declaration.鈥�
Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk聽21.47 crore changing hands.
Beach Hatchery, Fortune Shoes, Alif Industries, Rupali Life Insurance, Emerald Oil Industries, Orion Infusion, Reliance One the first scheme of Reliance Insurance Mutual
Fund, eGeneration, and Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa聽were the other turnover leaders.