Stocks ended slightly lower on Thursday, the first session of the new fiscal year (FY21), as investors were mostly cautious due to worsening pandemic situation and floor price limitation.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, went down by 2.35 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 3,986, after losing 1,432 points or 26.56 per cent in the outgoing fiscal year.
Two other indices also saw marginal loss. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 1.49 points to finish at 1,339 and the DSE Shariah Index shed 2.97 points to close at 922.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, plunged to Tk 811 million on Thursday, which was 85 per cent lower than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 5.56 billion.
Market analysts said the reduction of lock-in period for undisclosed money investment in stocks to one year from proposed three years in the final budget failed to attract investors amid worsening virus situation and floor price limitation.
Most of the shares remained stuck at the trading floor. Of the issues traded, 213 remained unchanged while 24 issues advanced and 36 declined on the DSE floor.
As many as 20,001 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a volume of 27.54 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap on the premier bourse also fell to Tk 3,117 billion on Thursday, from Tk 3,119 billion in the previous session.
Beximco Pharma topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 110 million changing hands, followed by Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, Wata Chemicals, Indo-Bangla Pharma and GlaxoSmithKline.
Pubali Bank was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 7.69 per cent while Beximco Synthetics was the worst loser, dropping 7.46 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also edged lower with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI) losing 11 points to close at 11,321 and the Selective Categories Index (CSCX) shedding 7.68 points to finish at 6,854.
Of the issues traded, 18 gained, 27 declined and 79 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 1.25 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 23 million.