Stocks extended the losing streak for the second straight session on Tuesday as cautious investors continued to opt for booking profit on quick-gaining issues.
The market opened on a positive note and the key index gained about 29 points within the first 50 minutes of trading. But, the rest of the session went down steadily amid profit booking tendency among investors.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 23.96 points or 0.34 per cent to settle at 7,036. DSEX lost around 53 points in the past two straight sessions.
Turnover, the most important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 12.31 billion, which was 0.88 per cent lower than the previous day’s tally of Tk 12.42 billion.
Market experts said the risk-averse investors booked some profit on stocks that saw a significant gain in the past few trading days, taking the market into the red territory.
As the market index crossed the 7100-mark in early trading, some investors favoured booking profit, said a merchant banker.
Trading activities were a bit sluggish as investors followed a cautious stance ahead of December-end earnings declarations, he said.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also fell 7.87 points to finish at 2,589. However, the DSE Shariah Index saw a fractional gain of 0.15 point to close at 1,520.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 379 issues traded, 221 declined, 112 advanced and 46 issues remained unchanged on the DSE.
A total number of 233,310 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 236.50 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE dropped to Tk 5,645 billion on Tuesday, down from Tk 5,652 billion in the previous session.
Fortune Shoes, which lost 0.07 per cent, was the most traded stock with shares worth over Tk 2.53 billion changing hands, followed by Beximco (Tk 553), Rahima Food (Tk 354 million), Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (Tk 326 million) and Orion Pharma (Tk 276 million).
Apex Foods was the day’s top gainer, posting a 9.96 per cent rise while Bangladesh National Insurance was the worst loser, losing 5.01 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed lower for the second straight day with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –losing 102 points to settle at 20,602 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX—shedding 62 points to close at 12,370.
Of the issues traded, 182 declined, 83 advanced and 35 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 9.91 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 310 million.
