Stocks witnessed yet another setback Wednesday, with the key index of the major bourse hitting a fresh 10 months low, as the jittery investors continued to sell-off amid growing concerns over the economic situation.
Following the previous five day's major fall, the market opened on a positive note for a while and then started to fall steadily, eventually ending over 93 points lower.
DSEX, the key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), slid 93.58 points or 1.46 per cent to settle at 6,309, lowest in more than 10 months since July 15, 2021. DSEX shed over 388 points in six straight sessions.
The market capitalisation which refers to the total market value of companies' outstanding shares shed Tk 273 billion in the just six days to Tk 5,134 billion Wednesday as investors sold large-cap shares.
Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) took some market supportive measures, including increasing fund flow in the market, but failed to stop the market fall.
Market operators said the nervous investors continued to release their holdings after noticing that the heavyweight issues, including multinational ones, kept falling in the past few trading days, putting pressure on the indices.
Five large-cap stocks such as Walton, Grameenphone, Beximco, British American Tobacco and Beximco Pharma accounted for 28 points fall of DSEX, according to amarstock.com, a market data analyst.
The stock market remained unstable due to rising inflation which reduced the investors' buying power to some extent and the depreciation of the local currency fueling foreign investors' sales, said a merchant banker, wishing not to be named.
"The investors are in a very tough situation as they are witnessing continuous erosion of their portfolios," he said.
Besides, the record surge in imports, imbalance in current account balance, shortage of dollars supply and rise in business cost have become major concerns among investors, he said.
The jittery investors went on a heavy sell-off to avoid further erosion of their portfolios, said International Leasing Securities, adding "Some of the investors are stuck with heavy losses in their portfolios and cannot get out of it".
"Now, the investors are waiting for regulatory steps to stop the free fall," said the stockbroker.
Stocks are in the doldrums contributing to investors' worries over rising inflation, increasing interest rate, the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, and escalating Russia-Ukraine war, according to EBL Securities.
Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 27.18 points to finish at 2,336 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) shed 17.26 points to close at 1,391.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, also fell further to Tk 7.62 billion, which was 2.18 per cent lower than the previous day's tally of Tk 7.79 billion.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) shedding 170 points to settle at 18,575 and its Selective Categories Index (CSCX) losing 101 points to close at 11,147.
Of the issues traded, 214 declined, 53 advanced and 27 issues remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.
The port-city bourse traded 9.22 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 223 million.
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