Stocks sink again after slim recovery

After a slim recovery in the last two trading sessions, Dhaka stocks witnessed a massive plunge on Sunday as dismal corporate earnings for the second consecutive quarter weakened investors’ confidence to take long-term stands in ailing shares.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), dipped 50.74 points or 0.8 per cent to settle at 6,215 against 6,266 points in the previous trading session.

Among other indices, the DSES, the Shariah-based index, dropped 15.32 points or 1.12 per cent to 1,348, and the DS30, the blue-chip index, gave up 19.5 points or 0.88 per cent to finish at 2,180.

Turnover, another crucial market indicator, declined by 23.4 per cent to Tk 423 crore against the figure of Tk 552 crore in the previous session.

The market continued to ail downward throughout the session as investors opted to offload their holdings and remained on the sidelines anticipating a bleak market outlook, induced by the ongoing macroeconomic adversities in the country, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

A section of investors, however, chose to take positions in life insurance stocks to take advantage of a short-term rally.

The life insurance sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 19.4 per cent to the total turnover, followed by pharma & chemicals (17.5 per cent), and IT (7.8 per cent) sectors.

Most of the sectors displayed dismal returns at the premier bourse— Dhaka Stock Exchange.

Of them, the paper sector suffered the most with a loss of 7.9 percent, followed by jute (5.4 per cent) and travel (3.2 per cent).

Out of the 390 issues traded, 20 stocks advanced, 68 sissues declined, and 302 scrips did not see any price movement on the trading floor of the DSE.

The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also closed lower with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX), and the all share price index (CASPI), declining by 50.7 points and 19.5 points respectively.