The daily turnover of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the country’s premier bourse, fell to a fresh four-month low on Tuesday as investors were on guard against the market stress amid the prevailing macroeconomic as well as political tensions.
The DSE turnover stood at Tk 386 crore yesterday, down 17.7 per cent than the tally of Tk 469 crore in the previous trading session.
Dhaka stocks, however, snapping four days of steep fall, returned to the green territory riding mainly one the price appreciation of some selective stocks.
The DSEX, the broad index of the Dhaka bourse, advanced 15.9 points to settle at 6,316 against 6,300 in the previous trading session.
The country’s capital bourse witnessed a lackluster trading session since the majority of investors remained reluctant to actively participate in the market owing to the prevailing concerns regarding the market outlook, while some opportunistic investors’ bargain hunting moves propelled the prime index to break its three-day losing streak and settle in green territory, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.
Buyers ended up on the dominant side since a section of investors chased rumor-based junk stocks in anticipation of quick gains as their willingness to take long-term positions in equities weakened due to the waning market momentum coupled with the prevailing macroeconomic and political concerns, it added.
Earlier, the DSEX declined to 6,299 points on Monday, below the 6,300-mark after 50 days.
The food and allied sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 14.7 percent of the total turnover of the Dhaka bourse, followed by pharma (10.2 per cent) and miscellaneous (10.2 per cent).
Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa Limited was the most traded stock with Tk 24 crore worth of its shares changing hands, followed by Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries Limited, and Sonali Paper & Board Mills Ltd.
Block trades accounted for Tk 46 crore or 12.0 per cent of the overall market turnover.
Most sectors displayed positive returns, with the cement posting the highest gain of 1.5 per cent, followed by travel (1.2 per cent) and paper (1.2 per cent), while the jute faced the highest correction of 0.2 per cent, followed by general insurance (0.1 per cent), according to EBL data.
As per the daily market review of Brac-epl Stock Brokerage, most large-cap sectors posted positive performance, with the food and allied booking the highest gain of 0.28 per cent, followed by pharmaceutical (0.22 per cent), bank (0.13 per cent), fuel & power (0.12 per cent), engineering (0.05 per cent), and telecommunication (0.00 per cent).
Central Pharmaceuticals Limited rose 9.8 per cent to become the day’s top gainer, while Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries Limited fell 2.4 per cent, becoming the session’s worst sufferer.
Out of the securities traded, 110 advanced, 52 declined and 230 remained unchanged.
The port city bourse, CSE, also settled on green terrain, with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX), and the all-share price index (CASPI) – advancing by 22.8 points and 38.2 points respectively.