Stocks fall for second day

Dhaka stocks on Monday extended losses for the second consecutive day amid declining turnover as a recent fuel price hike dented the investor confidence.

The benchmark index DSEX lost 0.71 per cent or 45 points to end at 6,258. The blue-chip index DS30 was down 0.97 per cent or 8 points to 2,237 while the Shariah-based index DSES fell 0.62 per cent or 8 points to 1,368.

“Equity indices of the prime bourse continued their downward trend for the second consecutive day as investors were unnerved over the recent surge in fuel prices that exacerbated the ongoing macroeconomic tensions,” said the EBL Securities in a post-commentary note.

“The decision to significantly increase the fuel price is putting further pressure on the economy, which is already suffering from high inflation and depreciating local currency. This led the investors’ concerns to be concentrated on the possibility of rising living costs and decreasing bottom lines of the listed companies whose capacity utilization may have already been affected by the disrupted power supply resulting from the shortage of natural gas,” it said.

Turnover decreased by 3 per cent to stand at Tk 1,084 crore backed by the textile sector that accounted for 24.75 per cent of the total turnover.

All the large-cap sectors posted negative performance. NBFI experienced the highest loss of 1.56 per cent followed by food & allied (-1.36 per cent), bank (-0.89 per cent), pharmaceutical (-0.70 per cent), fuel & power (-0.34 per cent), engineering (-0.14 per cent), and telecommunication (-0.11 per cent).

Out of the 386 issues traded, 103 advanced, 211 declined, and 72 remained unchanged.

Bangladesh Export Import Company Ltd. (-2.3 per cent) was the most traded share with a turnover of Tk 80.9 crore.

The port city bourse, CSE, also settled in red terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) marginally declined by 58.7 and 96.6 points respectively.