Stocks extend loss with rising turnover

Stocks extended the losing streak for the third day in a row on Wednesday as risk-averse investors continued their selling binge on sector-wise issues.

Market analysts said cautious investors went on late hours session binge while some were busy with rebalancing portfolio amid ongoing corporate declarations, taking the market in the downward note.

The market opened on positive note and the key index rose about 30 points within first hour of trading. But rest of the session went down steadily.

At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 29.22 points or 0.51 per cent to finish at 5,653.

Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 8.26 points to finish at 2005 points and the DSES (Shariah) index lost 11.72 points to settle at 1,292.

Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 7.08 billion, which was 14 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 6.22 billion.

A total number of 134,164 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 140.93 million shares and mutual fund units.

The market-cap of the DSE declined to Tk 4,180 billion, from Tk 4,188 billion in the previous day.

The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 346 issues traded, 242 closed lower, 71 ended higher and 33 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

Dutch-Bangla Bank topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 624 million changing hands, followed by BATBC, United Power, Brac Bank and Uttara Bank.

Dutch-Bangla Bank was also the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 15.18 per cent following its hefty dividend declaration.

Republic Insurance was the worst loser, losing 9.12 per cent.

The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – shedding 58 points to settle at 17,363 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX –losing 35 points to finish at 10,521.

Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 172 issues closed lower, 55 ended higher and 25 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse traded 6.13 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 201 million in turnover.

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