Stocks down in early trading amid rising turnover

Stocks witnessed a downward trend in early hours of trading on Wednesday, after rising two days, as some investors opted for booking quick profit on rallying stocks.

Following the previous two days’ rise, DSEX, the key index of the prime bourse, opened higher and the key index rose more than 18 points within the first 10 minutes of trading, but failed to sustain amid profit booking sale pressure.

As a result, DSEX, the key index of the prime bourse, went down by 8 points to 6,268 after the first hour of trading at 11:00 am, when the report was filed.

Two other indices also saw negative trends till then. The DS30 Index, which consists of blue-chip companies, fell more than 7 points to 2,150 while the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, declined 0.17 points to 1,384.

Turnover also stood at Tk 4.24 billion after the first hour of trading as the bargain hunters were confident enough to put fresh funds into good stocks.

Market experts said some investors opted for booking profit on quick-gaining stocks while bargain hunters continued to put money on fundamentally strong shares in anticipation of good returns.

Of the issues traded till then, 139 advanced, 188 declined and 60 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

Sonali Paper became the most-traded stocks till then with shares worth Tk 494 million changing, followed by Fu-Wang Food, Acme Lab, Orion Infusion and BD Thai Aluminum.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) opened sharply lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – losing 155 points to 18,003 after the first hour of trading.

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