Stocks returned to the red amid choppy trading Wednesday, as investors are eyeing closely on the political arena ahead Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case verdict.
The verdict in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, her son Tarique Rahman and four others will be delivered tomorrow (Thursday).
Following the previous day’s upward trend, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) opened on negative trend amid low trading activities.
Within first 15 minutes of trading, the key index of the country’s prime bourse fell more than 41 points while the CSE All Share Price Index (CAPSI) of port city’s bourse lost 30 points at 10:45am.
After 30 minutes of trading, the DSEX fell more than 18 points while the CSE All Share Price Index (CAPSI) of port city’s bourse lost 22 points at 11:00am.
After 90 minutes of trading, DSEX fell 32 points while the CSE All Shares Price Index shed 67 points at 12:0noon.
However, rest of the session recovered some early losses finally DSEX closed 12.90 points lower while CAPSI fell 26 points at closing.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 12.90 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 5,936 over the previous day.
The two other indices closed almost flat. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, saw fractional loss of 0.03 points to close at 2216. The DSE Shariah Index ended 1.37 points lower to settle at 1,384.
Of 334 issues traded, 177 closed lower, 108 higher and 49 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco Pharmaceuticals topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 280 million changing hands, closely followed by Lankabangla Finance, Usmania Glass, International Leasing and City Bank.
Usmania Glass was the day’s highest gainer, posting a gain of 7.10 per cent while Oimex Electrode was the worst loser, losing 5.82 per cent.
Port city bourse CSE also returned to the red with CSE All Share Price Index – CAPSI-shedding 26 points to settle at 18,348 and Selective Categories Index - CSCX – losing 19 points to finish at 11,083.
The losers beat the gainers as 116 issues closed lower, 73 ended higher and 32 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 5.73 million shares and mutual fund units worth nearly Tk 167 million in turnover.
