Stocks end 4-day losing streak

Dhaka stocks rebounded on Wednesday, breaking a four-day losing streak but extending a volatile spell as investors track the macroeconomic development taking a cue from the war in Ukraine.

The benchmark DSEX index rose 21 points or 0.31 per cent to settle at 6,662, scaling back from the previous session’s lowest level since March 9 this year.

The junior Shariah-based DSES index gained over 6 points or 0.42 per cent to close at 1,459 while the blue-chip DS30 index was up almost 7 points or 0.28 per cent at 2,458.

Retailers still adopted a wait-and-see approach while institutional investors poured some funds, leading to an increase in the turnover.

“Equity indices ended the day in the green reversing from the last four day’s downtrend but investors’ remained cautious due to concerns over the macroeconomic scenarios led by global price instabilities,” said EBL Securities in a note.

Participation on the bourse ascended considerably as investors engaged in buying spree taking advantage of the previous four days' lows, it said.

Thus, trading activities increased while participation on the bourse was agile as most investors favoured to take a position in selective issues.

The turnover increased 24.8 per cent, over the previous session, to stand at Tk 643 crore backed by paper, engineering and pharmaceutical sectors. They together made up almost 30 per cent of the total turnover.

The market pullers included Square Pharmaceuticals, Sonali Paper, City Bank, Walton Hi-Tech Industries, United Power Generation and Distribution Company Ltd, IPDC and BRAC Bank.

The market draggers included Robi, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, Pubali Bank, British American Bangladesh Company, and Bank Asia.

Most of the sectors displayed satisfactory performance, out of which paper (4.8 per cent), Travel (1.4 per cent) and IT (1.4 per cent ) sectors observed the most positive returns while cement (-0.8 per cent ), mutual fund (-0.2 per cent ) and telecom (-0.2 per cent ) exerted most correction on the bourse.

Out of the 385 issues traded, 217 advanced, 110 declined, and 58 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse, CSE, also settled in green terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) have advanced by 25.7 points and 42.5 points respectively.