Stocks witnessed yet another major fall on Tuesday as the jittery investors continued to dump their holdings amid deepening economic uncertainty.
The market saw a free-fall from the beginning of the session like the previous day as the shaky investors went on heavy sell-offs, pulling down the benchmark index below 6,200-mark instantly at the opening.
Finally, DSEX, the prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, went down by 63.71 points or 1.02 per cent to settle at 6,153, lowest in two months. DSEX eroded 213 points in the past six sessions after the Eid vacation.
Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, shed 22.60 points to finish at 2,213 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) lost 11.57 points to close at 1,348.
Turnover, the crucial indicator of the market, dropped sharply to Tk 3.19 billion, which was 38 per cent lower than the previous day’s tally of Tk 5.15 billion.
Market insiders said most of the investors were trying to exit from the market by dumping their shares for a while as they fear deepening challenges in the coming months.
The global economic turmoil impacted the Bangladesh economy which reflected on the stock market, said a stockbroker.
He noted that the market has been struggling for the past few months since the Russia-Ukraine war began which was exacerbated by the government announcement of a load-shedding plan.
“The market outlook remains gloomy as investors are concerned about several macroeconomic issues such as energy crisis, inflationary pressure and depreciating local currency,” he said.
Most of the issues have no buyers. Of the issues traded, 344 declined, 21 advanced and 17 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
British American Tobacco was the most-traded stock with shares worth Tk 104 million changing hands, followed by KDS Accessories, Beximco Pharma, Grameenphone and Sunlife Insurance.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended sharply lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –losing 214 points to settle at 18,066 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX –shedding 129 points to close at 10,824.
Of the issues traded, 246 declined, 19 advanced and 21 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city’s bourse traded 5.91 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value worth Tk 117 million.
