Stocks open mixed amid low turnover

Stocks opened with a mixed trend on Sunday amid slow trend as investors were largely reluctant to make fresh investments in absence of any strong positive catalyst to revive investor confidence.

Meanwhile, Shares of Power Grid Company of Bangladesh plunged 14.14 per cent to Tk 34 after the first hour of trading as it declared no dividend for the first time for FY24. The state-run company remained in the losses and suffered a loss of Tk 5.01 per share in FY24, as against loss of Tk 10.11 in the year before.

The market has been passing through a bearish sentiment for a long while the latest increase of value added tax (VAT) on certain goods triggered further caution over the market’s momentum.

Moreover, increased interest rates on national saving certificates hit the investors’ sentiment in equity market investments.

Following the previous four days’ downturn, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 1.11 points or 0.02 per cent to 5,132 at 11:00 am, when the report was filed.

The DS30 index, a group of 30 prominent companies, however, lost 4 points to 1,889. The DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, rose 0.74 points to 1,151.

Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also remained low and amounted to Tk 1.20 billion till then.

Of the issues traded till then, 154 advanced, 139 declined, and 82 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

Asiatic Lab was the most traded stock with shares worth Tk 63 million changing hands.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange, however, saw a positive trend till then with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—gaining 15 points to 14,367 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX rose almost 7 points to 8,735.

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