Stocks witnessed a downward trend in early trading on Sunday as investors mostly followed a cautious stance amid the ongoing corporate declaration session.
Following the previous week’s downward trend, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange opened lower amid low trading activities.
Within the first 30 minutes of trading, the DSE key index lost more than 14 points while the CSE prime index fell 6.0 points when the report was filed at 10:30am.
DSEX, the main index of the DSE, went down by 14.02 points or 0.29 per cent to reach 4,902 points at 10:30am.
Two other indices of the main bourse also saw a downward trend till then. Of them, DS30 index, comprising blue chips, shed 7.78 points to reach 1,661 and Shariah index (DSES) lost 2.68 points to reach 1,106 points till then.
Turnover, an important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 1.64 billion when the report was filed at 10:30am.
Market analysts said the risk-averse investors sold off stocks of the major sectors, which saw a significant gain in the past two months, to book profits.
World Bank’s forecast of a lower GDP growth for the country and lower than expected corporate declarations of some companies also prompted investors to sell shares, they said.
Bangladesh’s GDP will grow 1.60 per cent in the current fiscal year as the country struggles with the devastating impact of the lingering Covid-19 pandemic, the World Bank said in its twice-a-year-regional update on Thursday.
Of the issues traded till 10:30am, 106 advanced, 131 declined and 76 remained unchanged.
Insurance companies continued to dominate the turnover chart till then with Republic Insurance shares worth Tk 133 million changing hands, closely followed by BD Finance, Rupali Insurance, Northern Insurance and Bangladesh General Insurance Company.
The port city bourse, CSE, saw a downward trend with its key index, CASPI, losing 6.0 points to stand at 14,023, also at 10:30am.
The Selective Categories Index, CSCX, also fell 3.0 points to reach 8,420 till then.
Of the issues traded till 10:30am, 32 gained, 28 declined, and 13 issues remained unchanged with Tk 18 million in turnover.
babulfexpress@gmai.com