Stocks witnessed downward trend in early trading on Sunday amid thin participation of investors as they are gearing up for Robi’s initial public offering.
The subscription of the biggest IPO in the history of Bangladesh started Tuesday and will continue until November 23. The company would raise Tk 5.23 billion under the fixed price method.
Following the previous two days' price fall, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) opened on negative note.
Within the first hour of trading, the DSE key index lost more than 4.0 points while the CSE All Share Price Index- CASPI shed nearly 5.0 points at 11:00 am when the report was filed.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 4.67 points or 0.09 per cent to reach 4,882 points at 11:00 am.
Market insiders said many institutional and general investors were selling shares to set aside funds for the subscription of Robi Axiata, taking index and turnover low.
Due to the overflow of the IPOs, the secondary market remained slow in recent weeks as investors gave their attention to the primary market to collect at least an IPO lot to book some short-term profit, said a merchant banker.
He noted that a section of investors are also reluctant to make fresh investment in stocks amid the rising trend of Covid-19 infections in recent days.
Two other indices also saw a downward trend till then. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 1.0 points to reach at 1,702 and the Shariah Index (DSES) shed 0.10 points to reach 1,130 points till then.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 1.02 billion when the report was filed at 11:00 am.
Of the issues traded till then, 165 advanced, 69 declined and 83 remained unchanged.
Beximco Pharma was the most traded stocks till then with shares worth Tk 111 million changing hands, closely followed by Beximco, SS Steel, ADN Telecom and Bangladesh National Insurance.
The port city bourse – the Chittagong Stock Exchange – (CSE) also saw negative trend till then with CSE All Share Price Index- CASPI- losing 5.0 points to stand at 13,962, also at 11:00 am.
The Selective Categories Index – CSCX also lost 3.74 points to reach 8,407 till then.
Of the issues traded till then, 25 gained, 46 declined, and 9 issues remained unchanged with Tk 13 million in turnover.
