Stocks extended the losing streak for the ninth sessions on Monday, as the investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of the much-talked about share purchase agreement with the Chinese consortium.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) will sign the agreement with the Chinese consortium, comprising Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange, today (Monday).
Market insiders said most of the investors were inactive and remained on the sidelines to safeguard their position amid ongoing bearish trend ahead of holly Ramadan.
Following the previous eighth days’ decline, both the bourses opened on a positive note in the morning, but failed to sustain as the session progressed.
DSEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, went down by 1.09 points or 0.01 per cent to settle at 5,557.
The DSE Shariah index also lost 0.60 points or 0.04 per cent to settle at 1,300. However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 0.50 points or 0.02 per cent to finish at 2,075.
The bearish trend also reflected on the trading activities as the total turnover on the DSE amounting to Tk 3.30 billion, which was 14.48 per cent lower than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 3.78 billion.
Out of 339 issues traded on the DSE trading floor, 134 issues closed lower, 135 ended higher and 70 issues remained unchanged.
Western Marine Shipyard Limited topped the day’s turnover chart with shares worth nearly Tk 238 million changing hands, closely followed by United Power, Dragon Sweater ltd, Beximco, and BRAC Bank.
The port city bourse also ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – shedding 53.66 points to settle at 17,142 points and Selective Categories Index - CSCX – losing 32.34 points to finish at 10,361 points.
Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 108 issues closed lower, 78 ended higher and 40 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The CSE traded 6.85 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 179 million in turnover.