Stocks slightly edge up

Dhaka stocks slightly edged up on Wednesday as some investors started looking for the beaten-down issues to book quick gains following the recent bearish market sentiment.

Many investors, however, still remained sidelines as majority of the issues sticking to their floor prices battered investors’ confidence, making them reluctant to put fresh funds in new scrips.

The DSEX, the broad index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), added 4.67 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 6,233 against 6,229 points in the previous trading session.

Among other indices, the DSES, the Shariah-based index, lost 0.49 points or 0.03 per cent to close at 1,363, and the DS30, the blue-chip index, rose 1.65 points or 0.07 per cent to finish the session at 2,207.

Meanwhile, the premier bourse witnessed a slight increase in investors’ participation with the total turnover rising by 14.5 per cent to Tk 311 crore against Tk 272 crore in the previous session.

The market witnessed see-saw trading throughout the session as investors remained active on both sides of the trading fence, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

Most of the investors, however, preferred to remain on sidelines anticipating a bleak market outlook and fears regarding a resurgence of political turmoil in the coming days, it added.

The IT sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 22 per cent to the total turnover, followed by pharma & chemicals (20.9 per cent) and engineering (7.9 per cent) sectors.

Most of the sectors displayed positive returns at the prime bourse with the services posting the highest gain of 1 per cent, followed by the jute (0.4 per cent) and the cement (0.4 per cent).

On the other hand, the travel sector suffered the most correction with a loss of 1.1 per cent, followed by the IT (0.5 per cent), and the ceramic (0.2 per cent).

Out of the issues traded, 43 stocks advanced, 28 scrips declined, and 319 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also settled higher with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX), and the all share price index (CASPI) – advancing by 4.4 points and 7.3 points respectively.