Foreign investment nosedives in DSE

Net foreign investment in the Dhaka Stock Exchange plummeted to Tk 94 crore in the negative last month as the unease among general investors over the politics and liquidity crisis appear to have caught on with their foreign counterparts as well.

In February, foreign investors sold shares worth Tk 487 crore against the purchase of Tk 392 crore, according to the country's premier bourse.

A month earlier, the net foreign investment was Tk 187.24 crore.

“I think it is a temporary decline,” said Md Saifuddin, managing director of IDLC Securities, adding that it is hard to establish any other reason behind the decline of foreign investment in a particular month.

Sherif MA Rahman, chief executive officer of BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage, echoed the same. “There is no big reason for the fall. Usually, foreign investments remain insignificant in the first couple of months of a year.”

Rahman hopes 2018 will attract many foreign investors as a host of shares have already become lucrative.

Rehan Muhammad, head of foreign trade of LankaBangla Securities, said foreign investors believe that irrespective of party in power all governments in Bangladesh are business-friendly. 

“It has a positive impact on foreign investors unless there is a political chaos.”

Foreign investors are optimistic and willing to invest in the market. Strategic investors are coming to the market, he added.

He said the liquidity situation of the market is not good enough, so foreign investors are slow in making the purchase. Foreign investment, however, will increase in lockstep with local investment.