Stocks open mixed with low turnover

Stocks witnessed a mixed trend at the opening on Sunday, the first day of the week, as investors mostly followed a cautious stance amid the central bank’s investigation of banks investment in the capital market.

Following the previous day’s modest correction, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 2.40 points to stand at 6,848 points within the first 30 minutes of the trading at 10:30 am.

The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also lost 2.90 points to reach 2,450. However, the Shariah Index (DSES) gained 0.81 points to stand at 1,488 points till then.

Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 3.19 billion within the first 30 minutes of the trading at 10:30 am.

Market analysts said cautious investors followed a ‘go slow’ strategy as the Bangladesh Bank started to investigate entire money-market transactions along with exposures on the capital market to gauge liquidity movements in the banking system.

At least six teams of the Bangladesh central bank are now probing different transactions of treasury and investment departments of the banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs), officials said.

Of the issues traded till then, 166 advanced, 138 declined and 60 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

Saif Powertec was the most traded stock till filing of this report with shares worth Tk 219 million changing hands, closely followed by Paramount Textile, Amana Feed, Rahima Food and LafargeHolcim Bangladesh.

However, the Chittagong Stock Exchange, saw a positive trend till then with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—gaining 7.38 points to stand at 19,938 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX gaining 6.0 points to reach 11,955, also at 10:30 am.

Of the issues traded till then 71 advanced, 76 declined, and 21 remained unchanged with Tk 69 million in turnover.

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