Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh’s stocks ended slightly higher on Thursday as late hour selling pressure wiped off most of the early gains.
“The market finished slightly higher with increased turnover value as market participants were active both sides of the trading fence throughout the session,” said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
The market started with a positive note and gained nearly 20 points within first one and a half hour of trading, but rest of the session losses most of the early gains.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), finished at 4,677.14 points, adding 5.87 points or 0.12 percent over the previous day.
The two other indices also closed slightly higher. The DS30 comprising blue chips advanced 1.67 points or 0.09 percent to settle at 1,758.16 points.
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) gained 1.62 points or 0.15 percent to close at 1,122.47 points.
Turnover, the important indicator of the market, improved to BDT 6.46 billion, which was 16.4 percent higher than the previous day’s turnover of BDT 5.55 billion.
EBL Securities, a stockbroker, said, “Investors are taking fresh position in investment expecting better performance of market in the upcoming quarter. Market participation was satisfactory enough keeping days turnover more than BDT 6.4 billion”.
Among the large-cap sectors, engineering and pharmaceuticals sectors were only gainers, posting 0.17 percent and 0.15 percent gain respectively.
Telecommunication was the highest loser, losing 0.64 percent, followed by non-bank financial institutions 0.59 percent, banks 0.13 percent, food and allied 0.08 percent and fuel and power 0.02 percent.
The gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 320 issues traded, 135 closed higher, 130 closed lower and 55 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Apex Footwear dominated the DSE turnover chart with shares worth nearly BDT 329 million changing hands, closely followed by Confidence BDT 320 million, Bangladesh Building Systems BDT 247 million, Shasha Denim BDT 237 million and Square Pharmaceuticals BDT 214 million.
Apex Footwear was the day’s best performer, posting a 9.98 percent, while Rahim Textile was the worst loser, slumping by 26.31 percent following its price adjustment after record date.
The port city bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also finished marginally higher with its Selective Categories Index- CSCX –advancing 11.29 points to settle at 8,752.98 points.
Losers beat gainers as 111 issues closed lower, 85 closed higher and 48 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 8.60 million shares and mutual fund units’ worth over BDT 330 million in turnover.
BBN/SSR/AD