BBN file photo

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh’s stocks posted a modest gain on Monday, after a single-day break, as investors showed their buying appetite on sector specific shares.

DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, went up by 5.19 points or 0.11 per cent to settle at 4,693, after losing more than 18 points in the previous day.

Many good stocks have become lucrative following the recent market correction which encouraged some investors to take position, according to the market operators.

Five large-cap stocks-Dutch-Bangla Bank, Olympic Industries, ICB, ACI and National Life Insurance– helped the DSEX rise.

However, Grameenphone (GP), which is the largest company by capital, continued to plunge hitting the overall movement of the core index.

GP, the largest company by capital, fell further by 1.35 per cent, contributing 9.0 points of the DSEX’s fall alone.

GP share plunged 5.31 per cent on Sunday after the Supreme Court ordered the top mobile company to pay BDT 20 billion in three months to the telecom regulator from the audit claim of BDT 125.79 billion.

The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also lost 2.31 points to finish at 1,635 while the DSE Shariah Index saw a fractional gain of 0.82 point to close at 1,076.

Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, rose to BDT 4.44 billion, which was nearly 18 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of BDT 3.77 billion.

Gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 336 issues traded, 153 closed higher, 125 ended lower and 58 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

The non-bank financial institutions booked the highest gain of 0.93 per cent, followed by banking with 0.06 per cent, power 0.04 per cent and food closed remained flat.

Telecommunication witnessed the highest loss of 1.25 per cent, followed by engineering with 0.10 per cent and pharmaceuticals 0.07 per cent.

A total number of 132,206 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 159.47 million shares and mutual fund units.

The market-cap of the DSE fell slightly to BDT 3,542 billion on Monday, from BDT 3,544 billion in the previous session.

Dutch-Bangla Bank topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 120 million changing hands, followed by Fortune Shoes, Asia Insurance, Purabi General Insurance and Beacon Pharma.

Saiham Textile was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.96 per cent while Fortune Shoes was the worst loser, losing 9.80 per cent.

On the other hand, the Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended slightly higher with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—advancing 4.17 points to close at 14,256 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX –gaining 1.90 points to finish at 8,664.

The port city bourse traded 6.73 million shares and mutual fund units worth nearly BDT 138 million in turnover.

The gainers beat losers as 108 issues closed higher, 80 ended lower and 42 remained unchanged on the CSE.

BBN/SSR/AD