Stocks inch up, turnover hits 29-month low

Snapping the six-day of the falling streak, Dhaka stocks edged up on Thursday riding on the price appreciation of selective issues.

But, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the country’s premier bourse, recorded Tk Tk 227 crore in turnover yesterday, the lowest in the last 29 months.

Before this, the lowest DSE turnover was Tk 225 crore registered on July 16, 2020.

Besides, yesterday’s turnover was 31.7 per cent lower than the tally of Tk 333 crore in the previous trading session.

But investors still stayed on the sideline as the majority of the securities extended their losing streak after the stock regulator withdrew the floor price restriction on 168 scrips in an order issued on Wednesday.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, added 3.39 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 6,202 against 6,199 points in the previous trading session.

Among other indices, the DSES, the Shariah-based index, advanced 2.38 points or 0.17 per cent to close at 1,357, and the DS30, the blue-chip index, edged up 1.47 points or 0.06 per cent to finish the session at 2,194.

The withdrawal of floor prices from certain scrips put further strain on the ailing market, while the 1 per cent lower circuit breaker was yet to lure investors’ participation on the trading floor, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

Most of the investors preferred to take a wait-and-see approach amidst the current ailing situation of the market, it added.

Signaling an end to the regulatory intervention in the share price mechanism, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), the securities regulator, lifted the floor price from 169 listed companies and mutual funds on Wednesday.

From now on, the lower price change limit for the certain 169 companies would be 1 per cent based on the reference price of the last trading day’s closing price.

An upper price change limit (circuit breaker), however, is still in place for them, according to the BSEC order.

The pharma & chemicals sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 19.4 per cent to the total turnover, followed by engineering (15.0 per cent) and travel (10.1 per cent).

Most of the sectors displayed mixed returns at the DSE, with the jute posting the highest gain of 4.7 per cent, followed by travel (2.8 per cent) and IT (1.1 per cent).

On the other hand, the ceramic sector suffered the most with a loss of 0.3 per cent, followed by tannery (0.2 per cent) and bank (0.01 per cent).

Out of the 391 issues traded, 52 advanced, 101 declined, and 238 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

The port city bourse, CSE, also closed higher yesterday with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX), and the all-share price index (CASPI) – advancing by 11.8 points and 19.4 points respectively.