Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh's stocks extended their losing spell for the eighth session in a row on Tuesday, with improving turnover value, as the investors continued on selling mood ahead of Eid festival.
The market opened higher and the key index of the premier bourse gaining around 11 points within 15 minutes of trading, could not sustain the momentum as the session progressed, eventually ended marginally lower.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 10.38 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 4,523.66 points.
DSEX shed about 73 points in the past eight consecutive sessions.
The two other indices also ended in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 1.56 points or 0.09 per cent to settle at 1,734.78 points.
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) lost 2.90 points or 0.26 percent to close at 1,098.65 points.
Turnover, the important indicator of the market, however, crossed BDT 5.0 billion-mark after three sessions and amounted to BDT 5.31 billion, which was 29 percent higher than the previous day’s BDT 4.11 billion.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 322 issues traded, 192 closed lower, 74 closed higher and 56 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximnco Pharmaceuticals dominated the turnover chart with shares worth nearly BDT 339 million changing hands, followed by Shahjibazar Power Company, Square Pharmaceuticals, Delta Brac Housing Finance Corporation and Natitional Tubes.
IFIC Bank was the day’s best performer, posting a rise of 6.25 percent, while National Tubes was the worst loser, plunging by 9.19 percent.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed marginally lower with its Selective Categories Index- CSCX –losing 12.36 points to finish at 8,463.56 points.
Losers beat gainers 130 to 81, with 40 issues remaining unchanged on the port city bourse that traded nearly 8.26 million shares and mutual fund units with a value of above BDT 246 million.
BBN/SSR/BB