Stocks end slightly higher amid increasing turnover

Dhaka stocks edged up Tuesday as bargain hunters slightly reigned on the trading floor by chasing the beaten-down issues in hope of quick gains.

But many investors opted to liquidate their holdings yesterday, curbing the growth of the market and letting it end marginally higher.

Earlier, the slight recovery of the country’s economic crises fueled investors’ optimism to put fresh funds in the market, helping the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the premier bourse of the country, close higher in the previous two consecutive trading sessions.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the premier bourse, edged up 4.45 points, or 0.07 per cent, to settle the session at 6,271 yesterday against 6,266 points in the previous session.

Among other indices, the DSES, the Shariah-complaint index, added 2.32 points or 0.16 per cent to close at 1,374, and the DS30, the blue-chip index, dropped 0.86 points or 0.03 per cent to finish the session at 2,212.

Investors’ participation in the market increased yesterday, while the DSE turnover grew by 8.4 per cent to Tk 616 crore against the tally of Tk 568 crore in the previous session.

Investors’ engagements were mostly concentrated on selective issues particularly in low-paid scrips, said EBL Securities Limited, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

Besides, majority of the stocks continued to remain disregarded on their respective floor-price due to the lack of buyer’s interest, it added.

The pharmaceuticals and chemicals sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 25.1 per cent to the total turnover, followed by the IT (15.2 per cent) and the miscellaneous (8.3 per cent).

On the sectoral fronts, the ceramic posted the highest return of 1.3 per cent, followed by tannery (0.9 per cent), and textile (0.3 per cent.

On the other hand, the jute sector suffered the most with a loss of 1 per cent, followed by travel (0.9 per cent), and paper (0.6 per cent).

Out of the issues traded, 45 advanced, 49 declined, and 296 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), managed to settle on green trajectory yesterday with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX), and the all share price index (CASPI) – advancing by 5.4 points and 9.1 points respectively.