Home ›› 09 Apr 2022 ›› Stock
The Dhaka Stock Exchange remained in the tight grip of bears in the past week as both retail and institutional investors opted for staying on the sidelines during Ramadan.
After witnessing some recovery in the previous week, the market came in for selling in the past week as a big section of investors was inclined to keep their statistical position in order amid shortened trading hours and confidence boosting regulatory measures.
In the past week ended on Thursday, the benchmark DSEX index declined 116 points or 1.7 per cent to settle at 6,641.
“The equity indices of the Dhaka bourse witnessed consecutive corrections for four sessions as investors tried to sell off their shares to prevent further loss amidst ongoing market volatility while turnover has plummeted as the imposed 2 per cent lower circuit limit resulted in sharp drop of buyers interest in buying most of the stocks in the current market price,” said EBL Securities in a note.
Shorter trading hours during Ramadan and liquidity needed for upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr have also exacerbated the market situation, it said.
Turnover declined by 35 per cent to stand at Tk 608 crore over the previous week’s Tk 937 crore. The volume of trade hit its lowest for the first time in 15 months.
Usually, turnover in the stock exchange tends to slow during Ramadan when most individual investors remained inactive, dealers say.
Uncertainties around the war in Ukraine and rising inflation on the economic front have also been the major reason for nervousness among investors, resulting in the sell-off, they said.
Investors were mostly active in engineering (12.3 per cent), textile (12 per cent) and financial institution (11.7 per cent) sectors.
Almost all sectors witnessed negative performances out of which paper & printing (-6.9 per cent), general insurance (-6.6 per cent) & tannery (-5.3 per cent) witnessed the most corrections while cement (3.1 per cent) and engineering (0.7per cent) were the only two sectors that witnessed price appreciations.
