Stocks keep losing steam as turnover slips to 7-week low 

Dhaka stocks resisted a sharp decline on active short-covering on selected low-cap stocks on Tuesday with the turnover slipping to more than a 7-week low, dealers said.

The benchmark DSEX index, which rose early 30 points, closed with a marginal decline of 8 points or 0.12 per cent to settle at 6,917.

Its junior partners the Shariah-based DSES index edged 3 points or 0.23 per cent down at 1,495 while the blue-chip DS30 index shed 9 points or 0.36 per cent at 2,536.

The volume of trade by value stood at Tk 9,08 crore, which is the lowest since January 2, 2022, when it was Tk 894 crore and more than 20 per cent down over the previous session.

“Equity closed negative in lackluster trading due to absence of any near-term triggers, resulting in most investors continuing to stay on the sidelines,” said a broker.

Investors covered positions at the early lows and bailed after selling at the intra-day highs, he added.

Selling in British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company, Robi, Walton Hi-Tech Industries, Beximco, Square Pharmaceuticals and some other leading stocks pulled the benchmark index down.

But active short-covering in some of the textile, IT, insurance and engineering stocks allowed the DSEX to finish with limited fall.

NBFI stocks (-0.04 per cent), which remained under pressure in the last two sessions due to the central bank’s tightening stock market exposure limit for the sector, found the resistance prices.

Sectors that dented the benchmark index included telecommunications (0.21 per cent), pharmaceuticals (-0.37 per cent), engineering (0.41 per cent), and cement (-0.79 per cent).

On the flip side, ADN Telecom hit the upper limit circuit at 10 per cent, extending its winning run for the fourth consecutive session without any fundamental reason. 

Apex Spinning & Knitting Mills also hit almost the upper limit circuit despite a drop in quarterly earnings, followed by Dragon Sweater and Spinning, and The Peninsula Chittagong.

“Dhaka stocks continued to lose points as investors’ sell pressure continued on the bourse due to portfolio rebalancing attempts,” said the EBL Securities in a note.

“Trading activities were sluggish as most investors are reluctant to pour fresh funds amid the ongoing bearish vibe in order to avoid any potential correction,” it said.

Gainers maintained a fair lead over the losers as out of the 385 issues traded, 173 advanced, 154 declined, and 58 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse, CSE, settled in red terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) declined by 0.1 points and 0.8 points respectively.