Stocks slightly down on profit-booking spree

The capital bourse – Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) – logged a slight correction in the week’s first trading on Sunday as cautious investors opted for profit-booking and portfolio rebalancing in response to the latest earnings disclosures of the listed companies.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the prime bourse, declined 8.2 points to settle at 6,287 against 6,295 in the previous trading session.

The DS30, the blue-chip index, dropped 4.46 points or 0.20 per cent to close at 2,226, and the DSES, the Shariah-based index, fell 5.75 points or 0.41 per cent to 1,368.

Meanwhile, the premier bourse witnessed an increase in participation, with the total DSE turnover rising by 9.6 per cent to Tk 752 crore against the tally of Tk 687 crore in the previous trading session.

The market yesterday opened higher, with the core index crossing the 6,300-mark in the mid of the session riding on the investors’ buying behavior in selective securities, according to EBL Securities, a stockbroker.

However, sell pressure started to mount from the late mid-session, causing the benchmark index to fall into the red in the final hour of the day after cautious investors took it as an opportunity to offload their holdings, it added.

Moreover, some recently rallied stocks extended their corrections owing to the profit-booking spree by a section of investors for short-term gains, EBL Securities stated.

The IT sector topped the turnover chart, with a contribution of 21.3 per cent to the total turnover of the DSE, followed by the pharma (15.5 per cent), and the miscellaneous (12.0 per cent).

Most sectors displayed mixed returns in the capital bourse, with the travel facing the highest loss of 2.7 per cent, followed by IT (2.3 per cent), and services (1.5 per cent).

On the other hand, the miscellaneous sector posted the highest gain of 0.6 per cent, followed by cement (0.4 per cent), and tannery (0.3 per cent).

Hwa Well Textiles (BD) Limited topped the premier bourse’s gainers’ list with a gain of 10 per cent, while Beacon Pharmaceuticals Limited suffered the most with a loss of 4.5 per cent yesterday.

Out of the 391 securities traded, 43 issues surged, 133 stocks fell, and 215 scrips did not see any price movement on the DSE trading floor.

The port city bourse, CSE, however, settled on green terrain, with the selected indices (CSCX), and the all-share price index (CASPI) – inching up by 2.2 points and 3.6 points respectively.