Stocks tumbled on Tuesday, with the key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) falling below the 6,600-mark after one-month, as jittery investors sold shares to avoid further losses.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, slid 64.49 points or 0.97 per cent to settle at 6,574. The core index lost over 88 points in the past two consecutive sessions.
Two other indices also ended sharply lower with the DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, shedding 20.26 points to close at 2,431 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) fell 11.87 points to finish at 1,442.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 5.32 billion, which was 4.50 per cent lower than the previous day's tally of Tk 5.57 billion.
Meanwhile, Krishibid Seed made a flying trade debut on the SME Platform as its share price jumped 10 per cent to close at Tk 11 each on Tuesday.
Only one trade was executed on the prime bourse with a total of 100 shares changing hands in the first day of trading.
The DSE SME Platform index also rose 9.67 per cent or 124 points to close at 1,409 on the day, after suffering losses in the past three trading days.
Market analysts said the ongoing pessimism kept investors mostly inactive as they were continuously losing their risk taking appetite and engaged in selling binge rather than placing fresh bets in the bearish market.
"The investor fears that the listed companies may perform badly in the days to come because of a gradual rise in raw materials' prices in the international market," said a merchant banker, seeking anonymity.
He noted that the South Asian economy is now falling trouble, as the global prices of raw materials are rising at a time when freight cost has already increased and port congestion is getting worse.
"So the investors prefer to keep money in hand instead of making fresh investments as they think the rising prices would hurt the listed companies' profitability also," he said.
Shorter trading periods in the Holy Ramadan and liquidity need for upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr have also exacerbated the market situation, he added.
"The investors liquidated some positions to confront the current price hike of daily necessities during the Holy Ramadan," according to International Leasing Securities. Some of the investors are staying on the sidelines to grab the opportunity of further price erosion of some stocks, said the stockbroker.
EBL Securities said the investors' fear loomed amid the global economic turmoil owing to commodities market volatility and price hike of essentials, resulting in a liquidity shortage in the capital market.
The general investors remained shaky amid rising cost of living during Ramadan while the institutional investors adopted a 'wait-and-see' strategy ahead of dividend declarations, said a leading broker.
"The recent regulatory intervention failed to recover investors' sentiment as the Russia-Ukraine war escalates inflationary pressure on the economy further," he said.
He, however, said historically stock trading goes slow during Ramadan when most individual investors step back from the market.
Prices of more than 89 per cent traded issues declined, as out of 378 issues traded, 337 declined, 18 advanced and 23 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
IPDC Finance was the most traded stock with shares worth Tk 542 million changing hands, followed by Beximco (Tk 290 million), LafargeHolcim (Tk 149 million), Genex Infosys (Tk 144 million) and Bangladesh Lamps (Tk 110 million).
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -losing 145 points to settle at 19,349 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX-shedding 87 points to close at 11,608. Of the issues traded, 219 declined, 26 advanced and 28 remained unchanged on the CSE.
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