Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Dhaka stocks dropped marginally lower on Wednesday as the investors, releasing a portion of their portfolio, opted for debutant EBL First Mutual Fund, market operators said.
The market rose sharply in first hour, boosted by all sectors. Later from around mid session, the index saw freefall until the end of the trade, prompted by huge buy pressure from the EBL First Mutual Fund, the turnover leader and highest gainer on its debut.
The benchmark Dhaka Stock Exchange General Index (DGEN) finished at 3034.79 with a meagre loss of 4.85 points or 0.15 per cent, wiping out early gains of 28 points.
The broader All Shares Price Index (DSI) lost 5.36 points or 0.20 per cent to end at 2551.85. The DSE-20 comprising blue chips gained 2.20 points or 0.10 per cent to close at 2185.40.
“EBL First Mutual Fund has pulled the market down today,” said investment bank Equity Partners Limited (EPL), in its analysis.
Out of the 237 issues traded, 76 gained, 155 declined and six remained unchanged.
Turnover increased to BDT 7.75 billion, an increase of 6.4 per cent from the turnover of previous session (BDT7.10 billion), on the back of huge share trading of the debutant EBL First Mutual Fund.
A total of 210,19500 worth BDT 741.03 million of the fund were changed hands and its share prices rose 250 per cent on its face value to close at BDT 34.90 per share. It accounted for nearly 10 per cent of the total turnover on its debut trading day. However, it peaked as high as BDT 45.00.
Chittagong stocks also marked a fall. The CSE Selective Categories Index declined by 26.12 points, or 0.38 percent, to 6,804.81. The CSE All Share Price Index slid 50.83 points, or 0.47 percent, to 10,655.81.
A total of 93,24,074 shares worth Tk 86.22 crore changed hands on the Chittagong Stock Exchange. Of the traded securities, 53 advanced, 118 declined and two remained unchanged.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-20August09-1:28 am (BST)
