Stocks slipped into the red on Monday amid volatile trading as investors were mostly followed cautious stance ahead of nine-day Eid holidays.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,160, shedding 12.49 points or 0.24 per cent over the previous session.
Market analysts said stocks finished marginally lower as some retail investors sold shares to pull out money ahead of Eid festival as only three trading days are left before Eid vacation.
Trading and official activities on the bourses will remain closed for nine days from August 9 to August 17, including weekly holidays, on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha, one of the biggest religious festivals of the Muslims.
Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 10.10 points to finish at 1,826 and the DSES (Shariah) index lost 4.25 points to settle at 1,189.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 4.77 billion, which was 3.02 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 4.63 billion.
A total number of 134,714 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 126.19 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE also fell to Tk 3,846 billion on Monday, from Tk 3,866 billion in the previous day.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 353 issues traded, 183 closed lower, 130 higher and 40 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Coppertech Industries, which made debut on the day, topped the turnover chart with 7.62 million shares worth Tk 311 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were Square Pharma, Monno Ceramic, United Power and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation.
Al-Haj Textile was the day’s best performer agin, posting a gain of 9.91 per cent while SEML Shariah Mutual Fund was the day’s worst loser, slumping by 6.67 per cent.
The port city bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange, however, however, inched higher with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – advancing 2.71 points to settle at 15,796 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX –gaining 1.0 point to finish at 9,600.
The gainers and losers were same as 109 issues ended higher, 109 closed lower while 42 remained unchanged.
The port city bourse traded 8.06 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 266 million in turnover.
babulfexpress@gmail.com