Stocks tumble amid macroeconomic and political concerns

Failing to sustain the upward momentum, stocks tumbled in the outgoing week as investors mostly stayed on the sidelines amid macroeconomic and political concerns.
Investors might have panicked following the announcement of the US state department regarding the imposition of visa restrictions on Bangladeshis for interference in matters tied to the upcoming national election, market insiders said.
The market has been in bear grip for more than a year since the stock market regulator imposed the floor price as buyers have shown reluctance to buy stocks even at the lowest price set.
The prevailing floor price discourages investors from putting fresh bets while the news of the imposition of US visa restrictions has eroded investor confidence, said a leading stockbroker.
Many investors offloaded shares fearing further price fall without any foreseeable factor to help the market gain momentum.
This week featured four trading days as the market remained closed on Thursday due to public holiday on the occasion of Eid-e-Miladunnabi.
Of them, the first session dived deep into the red owing to the uncertain market outlook while the next three sessions managed to edge up but failed to offset the first day's losses.
DSEX, the broad index of Dhaka Stocks Exchange (DSE), finally settled the week 25.11 points or 0.40 per cent lower at 6,284.63, after gaining 5.05 points in the week before.
Two other indices also edged lower. The DS30 Index, which consists of blue-chip companies, dropped 5.75 points to close at 2,140 and the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, fell 5 points to 1,359.
Investors' participation also experienced substantial decline as the week's total turnover plunged to Tk 18.14 billion from Tk 40.05 billion in the week before as this week saw four trading days instead of previous week's five days.
The average daily turnover stood at Tk 4.53 billion in the outgoing week, which was 43 per cent lower than the previous week's average of Tk 8 billion.
Investors were mostly active in the general insurance sector, capturing 34 per cent of the week's total turnover, followed by food (13 per cent) and IT (9 per cent).
Sellers dominated the market as cautious investors engaged in profit-booking in the hyped-up insurance stocks, along with other sector-specific issues, said EBL Securities.
Stocks plummeted as investors were rattled for outcomes of the shift in American Visa Policy, reads the EBL analysis.
Most of the traded stocks saw price erosion. Of 366 issues traded, 114 witnessed price fall and 47 saw price surge while 205 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Small-cap companies kept their dominance on the turnover chart, with Union Insurance being the most-traded stocks with shares worth Tk 796 million changing hands, followed by BDCOM Online, Fu-Wang Food, Gemini Sea Food and City General Insurance.
Loss-making state-run firm Shyampur Sugar Mills was the week's top gainer, rising 18.60 per cent while Crystal Insurance was the worst loser, shedding 15.85 per cent.
Most of the sectors saw price fall with general insurance losing 3.30 per cent, followed by paper & printing, travel & leisure and life insurance.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) losing 84 points to settle at 18,580 while the Selective Categories Index (CSCX) shedding 50 points to 11,108.
The port city's bourse traded 16.80 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value worth Tk 857 million.

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