Stocks keep falling as investors in selling mood

Dhaka stocks extended the losing streak for the second straight session on Monday as cautious investors continued to offload their holdings in order to safeguard their funds from the prevailing market volatility.

Besides, the resurgence of political movements in the country led investors to take a cautious stand instead of active participation on the trading floor, stockbrokers said.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the prime bourse Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), fell 9.05 points or 0.14 per cent to settle at 6,324 against 6,333 in the previous trading session.

Turnover, another crucial market indicator, however, rose by 6.1 per cent to Tk 665 crore against the tally of Tk 627 crore in the previous session.

Block trades accounted for Tk 35 crore or 5.3 per cent of the daily DSE turnover.

The general insurance topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 24.4 per cent of the total turnover of the DSE, followed by food and allied (15.1 per cent) and pharma (11.4 per cent).

JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing Limited was the most traded stock with Tk 42 crore worth of its shares changing hands, followed by Fu Wang Food Ltd, and Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa Limited.

The market observed volatility throughout the session as investors continued to offload their holdings and preferred to look for lucrative investment opportunities following the recent market corrections and the ongoing corporate earnings declarations, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

Moreover, investors remained watchful and kept themselves aloof from taking long-term bets in equities owing to the prevailing concerns regarding a potential resurgence of political movements across the country ahead of the national election that might affect the market’s momentum, it added.

Most sectors displayed mixed returns, with the life insurance facing the highest correction of 2.2 per cent, followed by jute (1.5 per cent) and general insurance (1.2 per cent), while the IT reported the highest gain of 1.4 per cent, followed by services (1.3 per cent) and paper (0.9 per cent), as per EBL Securities.

According to the daily market review of Brac-epl Stock Brokerage, large-cap sectors posted mixed performance Monday, with the pharmaceutical booking the highest gain of 0.21 per cent, followed by bank (0.10 per cent), and fuel and power, while the food and allied experienced the highest loss of 0.22 per cent, followed by engineering (0.08 per cent), and NBFI (0.04 per cent).

Continental Insurance Ltd rose 9.8 per cent to become the day’s top gainer, while Chartered Life Insurance Company was the day’s worst sufferer with a loss of 10.3 per cent.

Out of the securities traded, 54 advanced, 112 declined and 226 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse, CSE, also settled on red terrain with its two major indices –the selected indices (CSCX), and the all-share price index (CASPI) – declining by 11.1 points and 17.9 points respectively.