Stocks slipped back into the red on Monday, after a single-day break, as investors opted for profit-motivated sell-offs.
Analysts said the market faced late hours’ selling pressure as investors opted for profit booking in micro cap and mini cap securities, after recent price surge.
The market opened on positive note and the core index crossed the 5900-mark within 15 minutes of trading. But rest of the session went down steadily.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,859, losing 27.97 points or 0.47 per cent over the previous day.
The two other indices also finished marginally lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 8.19 points to finish at 2,021 and the DSES (Shariah) index lost 3.06 points to settle at 1,315.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also fell to Tk 8.85 billion, which was 8.66 per cent lower than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 9.69 billion.
A total number of 196,322 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 246.16 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE stood at Tk 4,152 billion which was Tk 4,162 billion in the previous day.
The losers took a modest lead over the gainers, as out of 347 issues traded, 184 closed lower, 126 higher and 37 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
United Power topped the day’s turnover chart with shares worth Tk 253 million changing hands, closely followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, Dragon Sweater, Premier Bank and Pharma Aids.
The insurance companies dominated the day’s gainers chart with Agrani Insurance was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.82 per cent while Savar Refractories was the day’s worst loser, shedding 9.94 per cent.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange also backed to the red with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – losing 84 points to settle at 17,981 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX –shedding 54 points to finish at 10,864.
Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 152 issues ended lower, 106 higher and 20 remained unchanged.
The port city bourse traded 11.48 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 326 million in turnover.
