Stocks end marginally higher after bumpy ride 

The Dhaka stocks ended flat on Tuesday after extreme volatility as investors were active on both sides of the trading fence.

The key DSEX index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) managed to add 1.54 points on the day and settled at 6765 points, mainly pulled up by textile, IT and miscellaneous sector companies.

The Shariah-based DSES index went up marginally 3.94 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 1456 and the blue-chip comprising DS30 index fell 1.51 points or 0.06 per cent to 2458.

However, traders’ participation increased 8.01 per cent at the bourse, which raised the daily turnover to Tk 1,065 crore on the day, from Tk 986 crore recorded on the previous day.

Out of the 384 issues traded, 153 advanced, 197 declined, and 34 remained unchanged.

“The capital bourse observed volatility throughout the trading session, while the benchmark DSEX index settled flat following the day’s see-saw trading,” said EBL Securities.

The Dhaka bourse recently witnessed days of free-fall after the Russian invasion on Ukraine that triggered a global turmoil. Besides, the price hike of fuel in the global market also created uncertainty among the investors. 

Against such a backdrop, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) stepped in and instructed the bourses on March 10 to calculate the lower circuit limit at 2 per cent for all issues.

The move was taken to prevent the feared market crash, said an analyst.

On Tuesday, textile (17.8 per cent) issues exerted the highest turnover followed by IT (12.6 per cent) and Miscellaneous (12.5 per cent) stocks.

Most of the sectors displayed mixed performance, out of which IT (4.5 per cent), mutual fund (3.9 per cent) and travel (2.4 per cent) observed the most positive returns while general insurance (-1.4 per cent), ceramic (-1.3 per cent) and paper (-0.8 per cent) exerted the most positive returns on the bourse.

The port city bourse, CSE, also settled in green terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) advanced by 29.8 points and 50.6 points respectively.