Dhaka stocks fell in the morning trade today and the benchmark index touched the lowest in 38 months as investors' sentiment continued to remain low due to challenging macroeconomic conditions and rising interest rates.

The market opened downbeat after the weekend and the benchmark index DSEX of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) lost 36.62 points or 0.69 percent to 5,200.69 at 10.52 am, the lowest since April 5, 2021.

Prices of 246 scrips dropped since the trading began at 10 am. Only 72 gained and 51 remained unchanged in the market registering a low flow of liquidity.

Until 10.52 am, turnover in the DSE was Tk 95.9 crore.

Investors earlier said the tax authorities' move to impose taxes on the capital gain of over Tk 50 lakh from share trading disheartened a section of big traders.

Analysts however said the scope to invest black money into the stock market and increasing corporate tax for listed companies that have not offloaded at least 10 percent of their shares to the public should give a boost to the ailing market.

The DSEX lost more than 1,000 points or 16 percent from its position of 6242 since the first day of January this year.