Index dips 177 points as market panic persists

The stock market index fell every day of the last four days. As a result, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) – the country’s main capital market – spent another week in decline.

Market participants say the Iran-Israel war, along with the global political situation, is spooking investors anew. As a result, the capital market was in a fragile state last week.

But market investors say the index and transactions are constantly decreasing in the absence of institutional investors in the capital market. Such investors are leading to this situation every time with various excuses.

The capital market regulatory body should take action against them after taking note of why there is a continuous decline in the capital market.

The benchmark index DSEX lost 3.03 percent or 177.40 points and closed the week at 5,686.69 points. The blue-chip index DS30 lost 2.35 percent or 47.81 points and stood at 1,984.57 points.

The Shariah-based index DSES (-2.79 per cent) lost -35.74 points and stood at 1,246.56 points. The large cap index CDSET (-2.50 per cent) lost -27.64 points and closed at 1,075.99 points. DSEX, DS30, DSES and CDSET showed YTD returns of -8.96 per cent, -5.22 per cent, -8.62 per cent, -10.54 per cent, respectively.

The market performed four sessions during this week. The market started on a negative note (-1.45 per cent) on Monday and remained negative throughout the week on Tuesday (-0.07 per cent), Wednesday (-0.19 per cent) and Thursday (-1.34 per cent).

The benchmark index of the capital bourse resumed its free fall in the first week following the Eid vacation, plunging to a three-year low, as investor sentiment towards the market momentum has noticeably dampened by the macroeconomic uncertainty stemming from the recent geopolitical crisis, said EBL Securities in its weekly market review.

The market witnessed the dominance of sellers throughout the week as investor confidence remained shaky, leading the bear to retain its controlling position, it added.

However, investors’ participation in the market slightly rebounded as average turnover increased by 10.0 per cent to Tk 478 crore as compared to Tk 434 crore in the previous week.

Investors were mostly active in the pharmaceutical sector (18.6 per cent), followed by textile sector (13.9 per cent) and food sector (13.3 per cent). Sectors ended in red with the financial institutions sector (7.1 per cent) being the biggest loser.

All the non-financial (large-cap) sectors registered negative performance this week. Fuel & Power experienced the highest loss of 3.55 per cent followed by Engineering (-3.50 per cent), Telecommunication (-3.25 per cent), Food & Allied (-2.93 per cent), and Pharmaceutical (-2.59 per cent).