DSE turnover hits three-week low--

The daily turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) tumbled to a three-week low on Sunday, slipping below Tk 5 billion-mark, as investors were reluctant to put fresh bets on stocks amid growing political tensions.
The market has been in the doldrums for more than a year since the stock market regulator imposed floor price, with some periodic upward movements that failed to sustain.
The latest policy rate hike by a further 50 basis points amid a tightened monetary space exacerbated the situation. That compelled investors to focus on short-term bets, with their confidence in the market almost exhausted.
The higher policy rate gradually slows down the money flow to the capital market.
Accordingly, the DSE saw its turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, fell to Tk 4.12 billion on Sunday, which was 34 per cent down from the previous day's value of Tk 6.27 billion.

It is the lowest single-day transaction after December 3 when the turnover totalled Tk 3.49 billion.
Analysts say the market turnover is drying up gradually in absence of buyers while the large-cap stocks that dominated the market turnover chart earlier, remained at floor price trap and could not perform properly.
Uncertain economic outlook may be another reason as to why fresh investments are not coming in.
"Selloffs remained prevalent across the market, pushing both the indices and turnover to a three-week low owing to waning market confidence and concerns surrounding the impending national election," said EBL Securities.
The stockbroker noted that the sellers continued their dominance across the trading floor as they intend to reduce their market exposure amid concerns regarding the market momentum ahead of the year-end since overall investment sentiment remains subdued.
Top index draggers were Sea Pearl Beach Resorts, Olympic Industries, LafargeHolcim, Pubali Bank and Kohinoor Chemicals as they jointly accounted for more than half of the losses.
The DS30 Index, which consists of blue-chip companies, also fell nearly 6 points to 2,089 while the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, lost almost 2 points to 1,363.
Most sectors suffered losses with travel & leisure being the highest loser, shedding 4.3 per cent, followed by financial institutions, cement, general insurance and jute sectors.
Majority of the traded shares saw price erosion, as out of 342 issues traded, 119 closed lower, 32 higher and 191 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
The engineering sector dominated in the turnover chart, accounting for 22 per cent of the day's total turnover, followed by pharma and mutual funds.
Small-cap stocks continued to dominate the turnover list as Sea Pearl Beach Resorts became the most-traded stocks, with shares worth Tk 331 million changing hands, closely followed by BD Thai Aluminum, Orion Infusion, Olympic Accessories and Central Pharma.
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