Stocks slipped into the red on Wednesday as investors went on late hours selling of shares on major sectors.
Market insiders said the retail investors went for booking profits, especially banking and telecommunication sectors, taking the market in the negative territory after single-day break.
The market opened on positive note and the core index of the prime bourse rose about 20 points within first 10 minutes. But failed to stay positive trend as the session progressed.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 8.62 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 5,610 after gaining 34 points in the previous day.
The two other indices -- the DS30 index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) –also ended lower.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 6.49 points to finish at 1,967 and the DSE Shariah Index shed 4.83 points to close at 1,270.
The trading activities, however, continued to increase as total turnover on the Dhaka bourse stood at Tk 6.33 billion, which was 3.60 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 6.11 billion.
Stocks fell as investors shifted their tendency towards profit booking rather fresh investment, said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
Of the 334 issues traded on the DSE trading floor, 182 closed lower, 111 issues ended higher and 41 issues remained unchanged.
A total number of 135,486 trades were executed in the day’s trading session on the DSE with trading volume of 184.77 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE came down to Tk 3,964 billion on the day which was Tk 3,969 billion in the previous session.
United Power topped the DSE turnover chart for the second straight day with 808,902 shares worth Tk 286 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were IPDC Finance, Baraka Power, Beximco and Khulna Power Company.
Prime Textile was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.96 per cent while Samata Leather Complex was the worst loser, losing 9.88 per cent.
The port city bourse CSE ended lower with its CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – losing 71 points to settle at 17,236 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –shedding 40 points to finish at 10,439.
The losers beat gainers as 134 issues closed lower, 88 ended higher, with 22 issues remaining unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 11.79 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 319 million in turnover.
