Dhaka stocks dive on sale pressure

The capital bourse failed to prolong its recovery as jittery investors opted to offload their securities to ensure short-term profits amid an unclear forecast regarding the upcoming market momentum.

After two consecutive sessions of gains, indices of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) dove mainly because of the sale pressure on Thursday.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the prime bourse, plummeted 12.4 points to settle at 6,283 against 6,296 in the previous trading session.

Among other indices, the DS30, the blue-chip index, fell 6.21 points or 0.27 per cent to close at 2,235, and the DSES, the Shariah-based index, slipped 3.07 points or 0.22 per cent to 1,371.

Meanwhile, the premier bourse logged a decrease in participation, with the DSE turnover tumbling by 18.7 per cent to Tk 608 crore against the tally of Tk 748 crore in the previous session.

The core index managed to stay afloat until the last-hour, but the late-session sell pressure led the index to plunge to the negative, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

The pharma sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 14.4 per cent to the total turnover of the DSE, followed by the IT (14.1 per cent) and the paper (12.3 per cent).

Block trades represented 9.9 per cent of the total market turnover.

Genex Infosys Limited was the most traded share with Tk 53 crore worth of shares changing hands.

Most large-cap sectors posted negative performance yesterday, with the pharma experiencing the highest loss of 0.28 per cent, followed by bank (0.11 per cent), food & allied (0.09 per cent), fuel & power (0.07 per cent), and NBFI (0.05 per cent).

On the other hand, the paper sector posted the highest gain of (2.7 per cent), followed by jute (0.6 per cent).

Sonali Paper & Board Mills Ltd topped the gainers’ list with a return of 7.5 per cent, while aamra networks limited was the worst sufferer with a loss of 3.6 per cent yesterday.