Stocks continues bleeding for 2nd day

Dhaka stocks extended the losing streak for the second consecutive trading session on Thursday as investors’ confidence was yet to rebound on the trading floor in absence of any positive trigger in the market.

The DSES, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), dropped 3.93 points or 0.06 per cent to settle at 6,256 against 6,261 points in the previous trading session.

Among other indices, the DSES, the Shariah-based index, added 0.53 points or 0.03 per cent to close at 1,372, while the DS30, the blue-chip index, shed 0.48 points or 0.02 per cent to finish the trading session at 2,208.

The Dhaka bourse witnessed a slight decrease in participation, while the DSE turnover edged down by 1.1 per cent to Tk 425 crore against Tk 430 crore in the previous session.

The market remained in a downtrend for most of the time of the session though late-session share accumulation from bargain hunters helped the key index stay close to remaining afloat, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

Cautious investors, however, preferred to stay on the sidelines owing to the adversities on the macroeconomic front and dismal earnings forecasts of the majority of listed companies, it added.

The pharma & chemicals sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 32.6 per cent to the total turnover, followed by the IT (10.8 per cent) and the engineering (10.1 per cent).

Most of the sectors displayed mixed returns at the premier bourse with the travel sector suffered the most with a loss of 1 per cent, followed by tannery (0.5 per cent) and pharma (0.2 per cent).

On the other hand, the ceramic sector posted the highest gain of 1.1 per cent, followed by paper (1.1 per cent) and jute (0.7 per cent). Out of the issues traded, 36 advanced, 53 declined, and 301 remained unchanged on the DSE
trading floor.

The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also closed lower yesterday with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX), and the all share price index (CASPI) – going down by 2.1 points and 4.1 points respectively.