Stocks end the week mixed amid volatility

Dhaka (Nov 19, 2020): Dhaka stocks ended mixed amid volatility in the final session of the week.

The broad index started the day on a negative note, falling nearly 20 points due to selling pressure on mutual funds and power issues. Later, it recovered all the losses, crossing 4,900-mark in the midsession, but trimmed all the gains at the end of the day.

Finally, the DSEX was down by nearly 10 points or 0.19 percent to end the day at 4,879, pulled up by the Pharmaceuticals sector.

Volume of trade gained momentum somewhat as the turnover by value increased by 7 percent to Tk583 crore from the previous day.

Among other indices, DSES Index was slightly up 2.6 points or 0.23 percent to 1,128 and blue chip DS30 index rose 1.14 points or 0.06 percent to 1,701.

Mutual funds witnessed panic sale as investors feared further losses. Among the top 10 losers, eight were from the mutual fund sector that lost about 7 percent, led by EXIM First Mutual Fund. It was followed by NCCBL Mutual Fund One and First Prime Finance Mutual Fund.

Pharmaceuticals booked the highest gain of 0.83 percent followed by food and allied 0.53 percent, engineering 0.03 percent. Fuel and power experienced the loss of 1.24 percent followed by NBFI 0.97 percent, bank 0.7 percent and telecommunication 0.55 percent.

Out of total 327 issues traded, 166 declined, 90 advanced while the value of 71 stocks remained unchanged.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals continued to dominate the trading as it remained the most traded stock for the fourth straight day with shares worth Tk 67 crore changing hands, accounting for almost 2 percent of the total trade.

It was followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, BRAC Bank, Beximco, Gramenphone, Grameen Scheme Two and Associated Oxygen Limited.

Low cap companies were among the day's top gainers, led by Apex Foods that gained highest, increasing by 9.9 percent to Tk137.7 per share