Foreign funds in stocks plunge
Net foreign investment in Dhaka stocks fell 84 percent month-on-month in August amid selling pressure for profit-booking among overseas investors.
Foreign investors bought shares worth Tk 164.93 crore and sold shares worth Tk 152.47 crore to take net investments to Tk 12.46 crore last month, according to data from the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
Stock indices and turnover rose last month, leading foreign investors to offload shares from their portfolio.
DSEX, the benchmark index of the premier bourse, went up 25 percent to 5,549 points at the end of August. Daily average turnover on the DSE also jumped 109 percent to Tk 602 crore last month.
In addition to profit-booking, foreign investors remained on the sidelines for relatively weak corporate earnings announcements, said a portfolio investment manager at a leading stockbrokerage.
“The foreign investors were sceptical about their returns on investment.” In addition, some overseas investors received good returns on their investments in multinational companies, the manager added.
Also known as portfolio investment, foreign investment accounts for less than 2 percent of DSE's total market capitalisation, which was Tk 304,729 crore as of yesterday.
While banks remain the foreign investors' preferred sector, they also showed interest in non-bank financial institutions, power and energy, pharmaceuticals, multinationals, telecoms and IT.
Between January and August, foreign investors bought shares worth Tk 2,987.86 crore and sold shares worth Tk 1,327.02 crore, taking their net investment to Tk 1,651.84 crore, according to DSE data.
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