DSEX takes another plunge, pushes up losses

After a breather on Tuesday, the Dhaka Stock Exchange suffered yet another haemorrhage on Wednesday as the benchmark DSEX index shed more than 1 per cent.

Investors have lost millions of taka in the last few days as the index extended losing streak for the sixth straight session.

The market started the day at 6,403 and after an initial rise to 6,446 in the opening hour, the index began to gradually slide and closed at 6,309, down 93 points. The index hit its lowest since July 15, 2021 when it was 6,307. With the fall, the index lost 386 points.

The benchmark’s junior indices—the Shariah-based DSES index was down 17 points or 1.22 per cent at 1,391 while the blue-chip DS30 index shed 27 points or 1.14 per cent at 2,336.

Investors are facing uncertainty given the challenges facing the country’s economy, including surging inflation, widening trade current account deficits and the consequent depletion of foreign exchange reserves, according to stock analysts.

All sectors turned red led by insurers, financial institutions, ceramics, engineering and textile stocks.

The bourse observed further decrease of investors’ participation as the turnover stood at Tk 760 crore, down 2.2 per cent from the previous session’s Tk 780 crore.

“Stocks on the Dhaka bourse are in the doldrums contributing to investors’ worries over higher inflation, rising interest rate, the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, and escalating Russia-Ukraine War,” said the EBL Securities in the post-market comment.

Indices logged some recovery efforts in the beginning, but late session sell pressure added significantly to the wild decline, as investors saw every bounce back in the market as an opportunity to sell, it said.

On the sectoral front, bank (12.8 per cent) issues exerted the highest turnover followed by miscellaneous (12.6 per cent) and pharmaceuticals (11.6 per cent) stocks.

Out of the 385 issues traded, 42 advanced, 310 declined, and 33 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse, CSE, also settled in red terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) have declined by 101.3 and 170.0 points respectively.

Meanwhile, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) held a meeting with the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) on Tuesday to increase investment in the stock market from the Capital Market Stabilization Fund.

In the next few days, initiatives will be taken to discourage small investors and other stakeholders of ICB and its subsidiaries from selling securities.

A letter has been sent by the ICB requesting the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) to provide a term deposit of Tk 500 crore.