Stocks slipped into the red on Wednesday, after a single-day break, as investors mostly followed a cautious stance amid a lack of clear direction.
Following the previous day’s sharp rise, the market jumped at the opening and the core index soared 36 points within the first 15 minutes of trading. But, the rest of the session went down steadily amid the lack of any positive trigger.
Finally, DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 21.25 points or 0.31 per cent to settle at 6,750, after gaining over 79 points in the previous session.
Market operators said the market closed in the red again with no clear direction of the market because of the cautious trading behaviour of both buyers and sellers.
Two other indices also edged lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, shed 1.61 points to finish at 2,469 and the DSE Shariah Index fell 4.14 points to close at 1,456.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 8.63 billion, which was 9.82 per cent lower than the previous day’s tally of Tk 9.57 billion.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 378 issues traded, 263 ended lower, 76 higher while 39 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 154,544 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 196.78 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market capitalisation of DSE dropped to Tk 5,385 billion on Wednesday, down from Tk 5,399 billion in the previous session.
Beximco continued to dominate the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 1.25 billion changing hands, followed by BDCOM Online (Tk 342 million), Sonali Paper & Board Mills (Tk 329 million), Fortune Shoes (Tk 193 million) and Delta Life Insurance Tk 190 million).
Oimex Electrodes was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.55 per cent while Delta Brac Housing Finance was the worst loser, losing 10.09 per cent following its price adjustment after the record date.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended marginally lower with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)-losing 11.55 points to close at 19,802 while the Selective Categories Index - CSCX shed 6.79 points to close at 11,880.
Of the issues traded, 177 advanced, 93 declined and 38 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 28.45 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 568 million.
