Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The country’s both the bourses –Dhaka and Chittagong –ended marginally lower on Wednesday amid volatility with declining turnover value, as the investors traded shares cautiously centring writs issue.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) shot up more than 65 points within one and a half hour. After that it witnessed volatility and decline rest of the session and finally ended more than 9 points lower.
 
The DGEN, the benchmark general index of the DSE, slipped 9.57 points or 0.19 per cent to close at 5,010.63.
 
The broader All Shares Price Index (DSI) lost 4.58 points or 0.10 per cent to close at 4,224.23. The DSE-20 Index comprising blue-chip shares also lost 29.40 points or 0.76 per cent to close at 3,816.02.
 
“The market started with positive note on expectation of positive outcome of hearing on writ petitions. But news of jail of top 18-party alliance leaders adversely affected the market and finally ended 9.57 points lower,” stated IDLC Investments in its regular analysis.
 
“As the political outlook clouded, investors’ preferred safe zone rather than fresh investment while many of them followed wait-and-see policy,” it added.
 
The day’s turnover value declined to BDT 3.49 billion which was per cent lower compared to BDT 4.33 billion in the previous session.
 
Out of 260 issues traded, 135 advanced, 100 declined and 25 remained unchanged.
 
A total of 70.05 million shares changed hands on the day against 89.71 million in the previous session. The trade deals also decreased to 91,818 against Tuesday’s 97,194.
 
The total market capitalization of the DSE stood at BDT 2,620.33 against BDT 2,621.94 billion in the previous session.
 
Among the major sectors, non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) gained 0.73 percent the most, followed by fuel and power 0.25 percent and telecommunications 0.05 percent.
 
Banks lost 0.66 percent, pharmaceuticals 0.20 percent while general insurance gained 2.26 percent the most, among all the sectors, with eight insurance companies being featured on the top gainers list.
 
KPCL topped the turnover chart with shares worth BDT 165.40 million changed hands as the company showed robust growth in first quarter earnings.
 
The Company has reported consolidated profit after tax of BDT 385.12 million in first quarter against BDT 98.58 million for the same period of the previous year.
 
The other turnover leaders were LankaBangla Finance, Meghna Petroleum, Beximco Pharma, Grameenphone, Jamuna Oil, Beximco Limited, Lafarge Surma Cement, UCBL and Aftab Automobiles.
 
Pioneer Insurance was the day’s highest gainer posting a rise of 7.97 percent.
 
It was followed by Reliance Insurance, Republic Insurance, Takaful Insurance, Gemini Sea Food, Purabi General Insurance, Northern Insurance, Pragati Insurance, Global Insurance and Prime Bank First ICB AMCL Mutual Fund.
 
The day’s worst losers included Standard Insurance, LR Global Mutual Fund One, Legacy Footwear, Seventh ICB, Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills, Meghna Pet, Anwar Galvanizing, Salvo Chemicals, Eastern Insurance and Eighth ICB.
Meanwhile, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) key index, CSCX, shed 27.57 points to close at 9444.57 though it showed a gain of over 30 points in the first 30 minutes of day’s trading.
The port city bourse lost 81.33 points to close at 9472.14 on Tuesday while it showed a gain of 123.75 points to close at 9553.4831 on Monday.
At the CSE, 62 gained, 96 suffered losses and 23 remained unchanged at the end of the day’s trading.
 
BBN/SSR/AD-17May12-10:06am (BST)