Stocks edge lower as banks keep losing


FE Online Report | Published: March 12, 2019 16:13:55 | Updated: March 14, 2019 10:39:36


Stocks edge lower as banks keep losing

Stocks extended the losing streak for the second day in a row on Tuesday as investors continued to sell banks shares ahead of earnings and dividend declarations.

Market analysts said risk-averse investors were selling financial stocks while price appreciation of some large-cap multinational company shares saved the index from big fall.

The market witnessed sharp rise at opening, gaining nearly 60 points within a minutes of beginning of the trading session. But rest of the session went down steadily and eroded all the initial gains.

At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 8.38 points or 0.14 per cent to finish at 5,682.

The DSES (Shariah) index also lost 5.06 points to settle at 1,303.

However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, rose 14.88 points to finish at 2013 points.

Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 6.22 billion, which was 23 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 5.06 billion.

A total number of 126,828 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 113.12 million shares and mutual fund units.

The market-cap of the DSE increased to Tk 4,188 billion, from Tk 4,147 billion in the previous day.

The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 345 issues traded, 261 closed lower, 60 ended higher and 24 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

BATBC topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 754 million changing hands, followed by Monno Ceramic Industries, United Power, Dutch-Bangla Bank and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company.

BATBC was also the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 15.96 per cent following its hefty dividend declaration.

Monno Ceramic Industries was the worst loser, losing 8.73 per cent.

The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – shedding 47 points to settle at 17,421 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX –losing 26 points to finish at 10,556.

Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 197 issues closed lower, 44 ended higher and 20 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse traded 4.72 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 191 million in turnover.

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