Stocks witnessed a steep fall in the early trading on Tuesday, maintaining the previous day’s trend, as the jittery investors were dumping their holdings amid growing economic tension.
Following the previous day’s 87 points fall, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 72 points or 1.15 per cent to fall below 6200-mark and stand at 6,145 after the first hour of trading at 11:00 am.
Two other DSE indices also saw a sharp fall till then. The DS30 index, which consists of the blue-chip companies, dropped 29.46 points to 2,206 while the DSES Index, which represents Shariah-based companies, slumped 15.47 points to 1,344.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 1.27 billion after the first hour of trading.
Market insiders said most investors have been trying to exit the market by dumping their shares for a while now as they fear deepening challenges in the coming months.
The global economic turmoil impacted the Bangladesh economy which was reflected in the stock market, said a stockbroker.
The market has been struggling for the past few months since the Russia-Ukraine war began, and it worsened after the government announcement of a load-shedding plan, he said.
The market outlook remains gloomy as investors are concerned about several macroeconomic issues such as the energy crisis due to gas shortages, inflationary pressure and depreciating local currency, he said.
Most of the issues have no buyers. Of the issues traded till then, 339 declined, 29 advanced, and 10 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Sonali Papers was the most traded stock till the filing of this report with shares worth Tk 48 million changing hands, closely followed by ICB Islamic Bank, Grameenphone, KDS Accessories and Delta Life Insurance.