Stocks fall on poor corporate earnings

Dhaka stock snapped the four-day gaining streak on Sunday mainly due to profit booking and portfolio rebalancing of investors amid bleak earnings disclosures of most of the listed companies.

The listed companies from late this month started announcing their quarterly or annual financial reports.

But most of the companies have been displaying negative earnings which battered investors’ confidence, and loomed worries about a further market plunge.

Besides, the government recently hiked retail gas prices for power producers, industries and commercial sectors by 14.5 per cent to 179 per.

This staggering increase blindsided industrialists across the country already grappling with a looming global recession, worsening investors’ optimism to a great extent.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the country’s premier bourse, lost 7.9 points or 0.13 per cent to close at 6,288.

Among other indices, the DS30, the blue-chip index, edged up 0.5 points or 0.02 per cent to 2231, and the DSES, the Shariah-based index, fell 2.5 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 1371.

Meanwhile, the Dhaka bourse witnessed a slight decrease in participation with the DSE turnover falling by 3.2 per cent to Tk 489 crore against Tk 505 crore in the previous session.

The IT sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 15.8 per cent to the total turnover of the DSE, followed by the paper (11.3 per cent) and the pharma (10.6 per cent).

In terms of single security, Bashundhara Paper Mills Limited was the most traded share with a turnover of Tk 51 crore at the prime bourse yesterday.

The Large-cap sectors posted mixed performance yesterday with the food & allied booking the highest gain of 0.40 per cent, followed by bank, and telecommunication, according to Brac EPL Stockbrokerage.

On the other hand, the pharmaceutical faced the highest loss of 0.23 per cent, followed by NBFI (0.13 per cent), engineering (0.07 per cent), and fuel & power (0.01 per cent).

The market remained downbeat throughout the session, with the majority of securities experiencing corrections due to sell dominance prevailing across the bourse ahead of the upcoming earnings announcements, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

Investors were taking a cautious stand due to concerns regarding the detrimental effects of recent macroeconomic adversities on the financial performance of companies in the major sectors, it added.

The port city bourse, CSE, however, settled on green terrain yesterday, with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX), and the all-share price index (CASPI) – inching up by 3.2 points and 5.3 points respectively.