Core index sheds 133 points in three sessions

Stocks witnessed yet another bearish session on Thursday as the risk-averse investors kept their selling binge on major sector issues to avoid further losses amid concerns over the country's economic situation.
The market opened lower and the downward trend continued until the end of the session amid high intra-day fluctuation, eventually ending over 26 points lower.
DSEX, the core index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, went down by 26.52 points or 0.40 per cent to settle at 6,565. The key index lost over 133 points in the past three straight sessions.
Two other indices also ended lower. The DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, dropped 13.72 points to finish at 2,406 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) shed 1.24 points to close at 1,432.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, also fell sharply and the total turnover amounted to Tk 8.23 billion, which was 27 per cent lower than the previous day's tally of Tk 11.35 billion.
Market analysts said fear over possible bank interest rate hike, the global commodity price instability coupled with Sri Lanka's economic and political turmoil hit investors' sentiment.
The investor fear over the regulatory intervention in the interest rate ceiling to fight the rising inflation while the recent edible oil price hike and Sri Lanka's economic and political crisis put a negative impact on the investors' mind, said a merchant banker.
He noted that some western countries have warned that their economies may fall into recession, which is cause for concern among local investors as these countries are major export destinations for Bangladesh.
"Stocks plunged further on investors' worries as the global economic outlook made them nervous to exert sell pressure on the bourse," said EBL Securities, in its regular market analysis.
Amidst the global economic turmoil due to surging inflation, Sri Lanka's economic hardship also added to investors' concerns, said the stockbroker.
As a result, the nervous investors' selling binge drove down stock prices, while risk-averse investors decided to sell-off to avoid further losses, said the stockbroker.
Some large-cap stocks such as Grameenphone, British American Tobacco, Walton, Beximco and BRAC Bank jointly contributed over 16 points fall of DSEX, according to amarstock.com, a market data analyst.
Most of the large-cap sectors posted negative performance. Telecommunication saw the highest loss of 1.29 per cent followed by engineering with 1.05 per cent, banking 0.86 per cent, financial institutions 0.47 per cent, food 0.45 per cent, pharma 0.40 per cent and power 0.27 per cent.
Losers took strong lead over the gainers as out of 381 issues traded, 242 declined, 91 advanced and 48 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing was the most-traded stock with shares worth Tk 444 million changing hands, closely followed by Shinepukur Ceramics (Tk 410 million), ACI Formulations (Tk 334 million), Beximco (Tk 299 million) and Rangpur Dairy & Food Products (Tk 253 million).
Shinepukur Ceramics was the top gainer, posting a 9.97 per cent gain while Paper Processing & Packaging was the worst loser, losing 4.99 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also extended losses with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -losing 81 points to settle at 19,248 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX - shedding 48 points to close at 11,550.
Of the issues traded, 192 declined, 68 advanced and 32 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port-city bourse traded 10.02 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value worth Tk 299 million.

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