Retailers trade at Dhaka Stock Exchange office. BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh’s stocks finished the week slightly higher on Thursday, breaking a three-session fall, with sluggish turnover as cautious investors reluctant to make fresh investment in stocks.
Brokers said the market said despite the market returned to positive zone, most of the investors remained followed cautious stance ahead of Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) for the first half of the current fiscal year scheduled to be announced on July 26. After witnessing correction in the past three consecutive sessions, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw downward trend amid slow trading activities.
Within first 15 minutes of trading, the key index of the country’s prime bourse fell 6.99 points while the Selective Category Index of port city bourse lost 5.0 points at 10:45am although first 10 minutes was in positive territory.
After 30 minutes of trading, DSEX fell 14 points while the Selective Category Index of port city bourse lost 32 points at 11:00am.
After 90 minutes of trading, DSEX, the prime index of the DSE lost 1.58 points, while the Selective Category Index of port city bourse fell 19 points when the report was filed at 12:00 noon.
After witnessing volatility in the opening session, the core index of the prime bourse crossing the 5,800-mark in the mid-day, gaining 26 points at 12:30pm. But, later part of the session eroded most of the mid-day gain, finally ending 6.88 points higher. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 6.88 points or 0.12 percent to settle at 5,782 points after losing nearly 70 points in the past three consecutive sessions.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips also saw a fractional gain of 0.54 point or 0.02 percent to finish at 2,122 points.
However, the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) shed 1.10 points or 0.08 percent to close at 1,314 points.
Turnover, the important indicator of the market fell to BDT 6.36 billion on the DSE, which was more than 40 percent lower than the previous day’s BDT 10.69 billion.
A total number of 0.103 million trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 194.17 million securities.
The total market of the DSE also came down to nearly BDT 3,901 billion which was BDT 3,905 billion in the previous day.
Losers took a modest lead over the gainers as 329 issues traded, 152 closed lower, 135 closed higher and 42 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
IFAD Autos topped the turnover chart with about 2.26 million shares of BDT 341 million changing hands, closely followed by Mercantile Bank BDT 202 million, Doreen Power BDT 152 million, Prime Bank BDT 151 million and Keya Cosmetics BDT 149 million.
Mercantile Insurance was the day’s highest gainer, posting a 7.38 percent rise, while Meghna Pet was the worst loser, plunging by 7.82 percent.
The port city bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also edged higher with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX – advancing 5.18 points to settle at 10,844 points.
Gainers beat losers as 120 issues closed higher, 117 closed lower and 28 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 17.06 million shares and mutual fund units’ worth BDT 420 million in turnover.
BBN/SSR/SR