Stocks edged higher on Thursday, snapping a four-day losing streak, with turnover hitting a fresh six-month low, as investors were mostly reluctant to make fresh investment amid ongoing pessimism.
The market moved between positive and negative several times before closing at slightly higher.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went up by 8.43 points or 0.12 per cent to settle at 6,906, after losing more than 164 points in the past four consecutive days.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, dipped below Tk 11 billion-mark and amounted to Tk 10.68 billion on the country’s premier bourse, in a further decline by 7.50 per cent over the previous day’s tally of Tk 11.54 billion.
It was the lowest single-day transaction since April 29 this year, when turnover was recorded at Tk 9.40 billion.
Two other indices also inched higher with the DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, rose 15.47 points to finish at 2,601 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) advanced 1.02 points to close at 1,462.
Market analysts said the ongoing pessimism kept investors mostly inactive, bringing the daily turnover to six months low on the Dhaka bourse.
Losers, however, took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 375 issues traded, 195 closed lower, 131 higher and 49 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco was the most traded stock with shares worth Tk 993 billion changing hands, followed by NRBC Bank (Tk 632 million), BATBC (Tk 507 million), LafargeHolcim (Tk 406 million) and Orion Pharma (Tk 399 million).
Aamra Networks was the day’s top gainer, rising 9.28 per cent while Quasem Industries was the worst lower, losing 6.83 per cent.
A total number of 170,368 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 241.17 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of DSE stood at Tk 5,515 billion on Thursday, up from Tk 5,509 billion in the previous session.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also edged up with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –gaining 10 points to settle at 20,197 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX – rising 5.50 points to close at 12,132.
Of the issues traded, 147 advanced, 95 advanced and 32 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city’s bourse traded 10.36 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 342 million.
