Stocks more ailing as economic worries batter investors

Dhaka stocks plunged for the third consecutive trading session on Wednesday as investors feared a sluggish economic output amidst the ongoing macroeconomic gasping, particularly higher inflation, depleting foreign exchange reserves, and declining bilateral trades.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), plummeted 33.96 points or 0.53 per cent to settle at 6,350 against 6,384 points in the previous trading session.

Among other indices, the DS30, the blue-chip index, dropped 11.46 points or 0.51 per cent to close at 2,231, and the DSES, the Shariah-based index, fell 10.22 points or 0.73 per cent to 1,386.

Meanwhile, the Dhaka bourse observed a significant fall in participation with its total turnover declining by 31.8 per cent to Tk 1018 crore against Tk 1495 crore in the previous trading session.

The market observed see-saw trading with sellers reigning on the trading floor as the majority of investors had bleak expectations regarding the market outlook because the rising import costs and the current dollar crisis were now hampering the business operations and profitability of many listed companies, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

On the sectoral front, the IT sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 21.3 per cent to the total turnover, followed by the pharma and chemical (18.4 per cent) and miscellaneous (12.4 per cent) sectors.

Most of the sectors displayed dismal returns on the DSE trading floor with the services sector suffering the most with a loss of 4.6 per cent, followed by travel (4.5 per cent) and cement (1 per cent).

On the other hand, the jute sector posted the highest gain of 5.3 per cent, followed by the paper (0.7 per cent) and IT (0.7 per cent).

Out of the 389 issues traded, 34 advanced, 104 declined and 251 did not see any price movement on the trading floor of the DSE.