Stocks’ bleeding continues as fears grip investors 

Dhaka stocks sank for the second consecutive trading session on Monday as investors’ fears mounted centering the current macroeconomic worries including the risk of further devaluation of the taka and more inflation in the coming days.

Besides, the central bank’s decision to uplift the interest rate cap on consumer loans, depleting foreign exchange reserves as well as the declining bilateral trades also intensified investors’ concerns about a downbeat capital market.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) plummeted 51.34 points or 0.81 per cent to settle at 6,253, the lowest since 21 August.

Among other indices, the DSES, the Shariah-based index, fell 11.61 points or 0.84 per cent to 1,358, and the DS30, the blue-chip index, plunged 14.91 points or 0.67 per cent to close at 2,198.

Turnover, another crucial market indicator, fell by 1.36 per cent to Tk 714 crore versus Tk 724 crore in the previous trading session.

Macroeconomic worries engulfed investors aided by the dismal corporate earnings in the third quarter, letting the market to go down for the second consecutive trading session Monday, analysts say.

Moreover, the soaring import costs against the export receipts and the current dollar crisis were still hampering the business operations and profitability of many listed companies, further worsening investors’ confidence, they added.

On the sectoral front, the pharmaceutical sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 20.11 per cent to the total DSE turnover. 

All the large-cap sectors posted negative performance in the Dhaka bourse. 

The pharmaceutical sector suffered the most with a loss of 1.39 per cent, followed by engineering (0.33 per cent), fuel & power (0.14 per cent), food & allied (0.13 per cent), bank (0.01 per cent), NBFI (0.01 per cent), and telecommunication. 

Genex Infosys Limited was the most traded share with a turnover of Tk 74.5 crore. Block trades contributed 1.1 per cent to the overall DSE turnover. 

Out of the 342 issues traded, 18 advanced, 68 declined and 251 did not see any price movement on the trading floor of the DSE.