The stock market opened marginally lower on Monday amid persistent volatility as investors were mostly cautious to put fresh funds in stocks ahead of the Eid festival.
The retail investors have been selling shares to pull out money ahead of Eid-ul-Adha as only three trading days are left before the vacation, market insiders said.
Following the previous day’s marginal fall, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 2.28 points or 0.03 per cent to stand at 6,357, after the first hour of trading at 11:00 am.
Two other DSE indices also saw a downward trend till then with the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, losing 4.85 points to reach 2,286 and the Shariah Index (DSES) fell 0.49 points to 1,384.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 1.82 billion after one hour of trading at 11:00 am.
Market operators said some of the investors preferred to book profit on sector-specific stocks while many investors were reluctant to put fresh investment ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
Meanwhile, Grameenphone share kept losing and plunged 1.98 per cent further within the first hour of trading this morning, reaching Tk 282.60 per share.
The largest market-cap listed firm’s share also lost its highest allowable limit in the past two days after the telecom regulator banned them from selling new SIMs due to failure to provide quality service.
Of the issues traded till then, 146 declined, 149 advanced, and 74 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Robi Axiata was the most traded stock till the filing of this report with shares worth Tk 212 million changing hands, closely followed by Meghna Insurance, Shinepukur Ceramics, Fortune Shoes and Titas Gas.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also opened marginally lower with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—losing 5.0 points to stand at 18,693 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX – fell 4.0 points to reach 11,205, also at 11:00 am.
Of the issues traded till then, 68 declined, 47 advanced and 23 remained unchanged with turnover of Tk 77 million after two hours.