Stocks finish down ahead of Eid holidays

The Dhaka Stock Exchange endured another volatile session with the stocks declining before a six-day weekend and Eid-ul-Fitr break.

The benchmark DSEX index was in the negative territory throughout the session. At close, it dropped about 22 points of 0.32 per cent to close at 6,655, hitting a low of 6,634.

Its junior indices—the Shariah-based DSES index was marginally down 6 points or 0.44 per cent at 1,446 while the blue-chip DS30 index shed 5 points or 0.21 per cent at 2,460.

“The equity indices of the prime bourse failed to retain the upward momentum and again slipped into red as some investors are taking a cautious stance and favoured engaging in profit booking ahead of Eid vacation,” said EBL Securities in a note.

“Investors have been engaged in profit booking taking advantage of the past two day’s rise,” he added.

Besides, bourses observed a decrease in participation while turnover has declined by 6.7 per cent to stand at Tk 870 crore from Wednesday’s Tk 930 crore in the previous session.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) will resume share trading on May 5 after weekend, May Day and the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays. On the sectoral front, Engineering (20.6 per cent) issues exerted the highest turnover followed by Miscellaneous (14.4 per cent ) and Textile (8.8 per cent ) stocks. Most of the sectors displayed dismal performance, out of which Paper (-1.7 per cent), Engineering (-1.2per cent) and General Insurance (-1.1 per cent ) exerted the most corrections while Services (1.5 per cent ), Tannery (0.7 per cent ) and Life Insurance (0.5 per cent ) sectors observed the most positive returns on the bourse.

Out of the 385 issues traded, 90 advanced, 241 declined, and 54 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse, CSE, also settled in red terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) have declined by 83.8 points and 138.4 points respectively.