Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Bangladesh’s stocks broke a six-day winning streak on Wednesday to return to the red, as investors opted for quick-profit on sector specific stocks.
Market insiders said the market faced selling pressure as investors opted for profit booking in micro-cap and mini-cap securities.
Following the previous six days’ positive trend, both bourses — Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) — opened marginally lower.
Within first 30 minutes of trading, the key index of the country’s prime bourse fell more than 8.0 points while the Selective Category Index of port city bourse fell 4.93 points at 10:30am.
After first hour of trading, DSEX, the prime index of the DSE stands at 5,500.96 points, advancing 0.31 points while the Selective Category Index of port city bourse advanced 0.18 points at 11:00am.
After two hours of the trading, DSEX went down by 13.28 points, while the Selective Category Index of port city’s bourse fell 29 points.
The downturn sustained till end of the session, finally ended 10.78 points lower over the previous day.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) settled at 5,489.87 points, losing 10.78 points or 0.19 percent, after adding nearly 145 points in the past six consecutive sessions.
The two other indices also edged lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips fell 3.35 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 2044 points.
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) lost 1.15 points or 0.09 percent to close at 1,273 points.
“After six days of uptrend, the market surrendered as investors were mostly in a selling mood,” said a stockbroker.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also dropped 11.26 per cent to BDT 5.67 billion, over the previous day’s BDT 6.39 billion.
Losers took a modest lead over the gainers, as prices of 161 securities declined, 127 advanced, and 41 remained unchanged out of the 329 issues that were traded on the DSE floor.
Beximco Pharma topped the DSE turnover chart with about 2.95 million shares worth BDT 337 million changing hands, followed by Argon Denims, LankaBangla Finance, Central Pharmaceuticals and United Power.
Phoenix Insurance Company was the day’s highest gainer, posting 6.58 percent gain, while Savar Refractories was the worst loser, losing 6.34 percent.
The port city bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also returned to the red with its Selective Categories Index – CSCX – losing 22 points to settle at 10,309.
Losers beat gainers as 111 issues closed lower, 90 closed higher and 36 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 10.57 million shares and mutual fund units’ worth BDT 343 million in turnover.
BBN/SS/ANS