Stocks extended the losing streak for the two straight sessions on Wednesday as risk-averse investors continued their sell-offs on sector-wises issues.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 15.94 points or 0.32 per cent to settle at 4,883.
Market operators said investors opted for booking profit on sector specific stocks which saw significant gain in the past few sessions.
Price fall of Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, ACME Laboratories, Marico Bangladesh, Power Grid Company and Square Pharma contributed the most to fall of index.
Many investors also moved to the primary market as three IPOs, one is biggest ever, is set to hit the market soon. Many investors have already disposed of shares of other companies, while some have collected funds to join the IPO bonanza, said a merchant banker.
He noted that the shaky investors went for profit booking sell-off while some investors adopted a ‘wait-and-see’ stance amid the ongoing slow market trend.
However, two other indices edged higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 7.10 points to finish at 1,710 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 2.72 points to close at 1,115.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 9.75 billion, which was 5.40 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 9.25 billion.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 353 issues traded, 186 ended lower, 79 closed higher while 88 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 175,696 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 488.72 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market capitalisation of DSE also fell to Tk 3,969 billion on Wednesday, from Tk 3,980 billion in the previous session.
Beximco Pharma continued to dominate the turnover chart with 8.31 million shares worth Tk 1.12 billion changing hands, followed by Beximco, Trust Bank First Mutual Fund, Eastern Insurance and Brac Bank.
Phoenix Finance First Mutual Fund was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent while Bangladesh Shipping Corporation was the worst loser, losing 9.93 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended marginally lower with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—losing 58 points to close at 14,007 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX shedding 31 points to close at 8,434.
Of the issues traded, 145 advanced, 69 declined and 48 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 17.32 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 293 million.
