Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Stocks at the country’s both bourses — Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) – extended losses further on Thursday, the closing day of the week, market operators said.
The DSE plummeted on the day with declining turnover value, as the cautious investors opted for booking profit to minimize their loss.
The market opened with a positive note, gaining almost 30 points within first five minutes upon resumption of the day’s trading. After that it started to decline steadily for rest of the session amid moderate ups and downs and finally ended the day 112 points lower.
The benchmark General Index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange— (DGEN) ended at 5,367.52, losing 112.65 points or 2.05 per cent.
The broader All Shares Price Index (DSI) slipped 91.69 points or 1.99 per cent to close at 4,501.24. The DSE-20 Index comprising blue-chip shares also lost 81.81 points or 2.04 per cent to close at 3,920.98.
“Bearish rally was spread across all the sectors. The fuel and power shares that were resilient in the yesterday’s downturn were also in the heavy losers list today,” LankaBangla Securities said in its daily analysis. 
Out of 265 issues traded, 234 declined, only 24 advanced and seven remained unchanged.
“Downtrend continued as the DSE went through another profit booking session by the investors,” stated IDLC Investments in its regular market analysis.
As political scenario started to get volatile a bit, the investors stayed cautious as to investment outlook, and resorted to pocket the gains for now, causing lower turnover value, it added.
The turnover value declined to BDT 7.79 billion, down by 21.39 percent compared to BDT 9.91 billion in the previous session.
A total of 126.39 million shares changed hands on the day against 162.38 million in the previous session. The trade deals also decreased to 176,615 against Wednesday’s 194,578.
The total market capitalization of the DSE stood at BDT 2,752.26 billion against BDT 2,790.61 billion in the previous session.
All major sectors ended in red, led by fuel and power sector which declined by 2.64 percent.
It was followed by general insurance, banks, textile, engineering and pharmaceuticals which lost 2.50 percent, 2.26 percent, 2.22 per cent, 2.06 percent and 1.95 percent respectively.
GPH Ispat which made debut at the DSE Thursday topped the turnover chart with shares worth BDT 516.88 million changed hands.
The other turnover leaders were Meghna Petroleum, Jamuna Oil, GP, Beximco Limited, Beximco Pharma, LankaBangla Finance, MI Cement, Aftab Automobiles and Confidence Cement.
GPH Ispat was also the highest gainer on the day posting a rise of 143 per cent over its IPO price of BDT 30 to close at BDT 72.90.
The other top gainers were National Tubes, Stylecraft, ICB, Midas Financing, In Tech Online, Savar Refractories, Legacy Footwear, First ICB and LR Global First Mutual Fund.
The day’s worst losers included Meghna Pet, Samorita Hospital, Karnaphuli Insurance, Padma Life Insurance, Shinepukur Ceramics, Eighth ICB, AIMS First Mutual Fund, Monno Stafflers, Shympur Sugar Mills and Beach Hatchery.
Similarly, the CSE benchmark index, CSCX, shed 196.68 points to close at 10028 today. The index lost 3.24 points on Wednesday although it showed a gain of 147.45 points on Tuesday.
The CSE key index shed 121.88 points on Monday while it gained 193.87 points on Sunday.
Of the issues traded at the CSE, only 18 advanced, 167 suffered losses and 4 remained unchanged.
The Chittagong bourse turnover declined with BDT 733.80 million. It was BDT 899.10 million on Wednesday while BDT 836.80 million and BDT 977.10 million n Tuesday and Monday respectively.
 
BBN/SSR/AD-20Apr12-5:00 pm (BST)