Dhaka stocks fell amid volatility on Sunday—the first session of the week—as the investors went for booking profits from the early surges.
The benchmark DSEX index declined 36 points or 0.5 per cent to settle at 7,191, hitting as high as 7,266 in the early trade and as low as 7,188 in the final hour.
Two other indices, the Shariah-based DSES index shed 10 points or 0.65 per cent to 1,566 and the blue-chip comprising DS30 index dropped 18 points or 0.7 per cent to 2,655.
The DSE turnover stood at Tk 2,034 crore, down more than 6 per cent over the previous session. The NBFI sector dominated the turnover accounting for 13.45 per cent of the total turnover.
Out of 376 issues traded, prices of 106 advanced, 244 lost, and 26 remained unchanged.
Profit booking took place mainly on mutual funds, jute, ceramics, cement, insurers and textile sector while travel & leisure, services and real estate, engineering and IT sectors moved up. The heavyweight sectors—banks, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals—decreased slightly.
Investors have much confidence in the market based on affirmative regulatory decisions, so the index is expected to reverse the natural profit-taking tendency any time soon, said EBL Securities in its daily market commentary.
The investors were somewhat cautious due to the tussle between Bangladesh Bank and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) over utilizing unclaimed dividends, creating volatility in the market.
On Monday, the central bank wrote to the BSEC that banks and non-bank financial institutions will not be allowed to transfer unclaimed or unsettled dividends to the capital market stabilisation fund as per the Bank Company Act, 1991.
Earlier, the BSEC had formulated the 'Capital Market Stabilisation Fund Rules, 2021' aiming at using the unpaid portion of the authorised dividends of listed companies for the development of the capital market. The rules were published in the form of a gazette on June 27. According to the rules, the fund is required to have an 11-member board of governance to manage it.
The size of the fund would be over Tk 21,000 crore, depending on the size of unclaimed dividends of the listed companies.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also ended negative. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) were down 89.5 points and 158.5 points respectively.
The CSE turnover was Tk 66 crore. Out of the 316 issues traded, 88 advanced, 213 declined, and 15 remained unchanged.
