Dhaka stocks slide for 2nd day, dragged down by insurers

The Dhaka bourse ended Monday’s trade in red terrain for the second consecutive day, dragged down again mostly by Insurance stocks.

However, on the day, the turnover saw a marginal gain and managed to hover above Tk 500 crore.

Trading on the day began with positive movements for most of the companies. At the beginning of the transaction, the primary index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) surged by 8 points. However, but it failed to maintain the momentum and moved downwards to end the session in the negative zone continuing the trend until the end of the session as investors went for profit booking.

Over 90 percent (38 out 42 ) of the companies in the insurance sector had their share prices decline, which greatly hammered the index. On the other side, companies in the IT sector shone on the day with 40 percent (4 out of 10) of companies seeing positive price movement.

DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange DSE, declined 9.50 points or 0.15 percent to settle at 6278.84113 as against 6288.33426 points in the previous trading session. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) fell 1.70 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 1370.26977. The DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, dropped by 5.42 points or 0.24 percent to close at 2225.83157.

Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, jumped by 4.15 percent and stood at Tk 509.48 crore at the end of the day. It was Tk 489.17 crore at the previous session on Sunday.

Shares of the 343 issues were traded on the day, of which 32 closed in green, 135 in red and 170 showed no price movement.

EASTRNLUB was the day’s best performer on the day, posting a gain of 6.24 percent. ORIONINFU was the second-best gainer (5.01 percent), followed by GENEXIL (4 percent), INTRACO (2.71 percent), and EASTLAND (2.67 percent).

On the other hand, AAMRATECH had the sharpest fall, shedding 8.38 percent, followed by JHRML (-7.68 percent), PIONEERINS (-5.18 percent), BDTHAIFOOD (-4.48 percent), and ASIANS (-4.28 percent).

BPML was the most-traded by value with its shares worth Tk 59.90 crore changing hands on the day. BPML, which was the second most-traded stock, had a turnover of Tk 43.04 crore followed by AAMRANET at 41.91 crore, and EHL at Tk 30.73 crore, and INTRACO at Tk 22.34 crore.

On the sectoral front, IT was the best performer in the session. The total turnover in this sector was Tk 127.40 crore, which was 27.09 percent of the total turnover. The Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals sector was in the second position with Tk 47 crore turnover (9.99 percent), followed by Paper and Printing with Tk 46.70 crore (9.93 percent), Life Insurance with 43.70 crore (9.29 percent), and Services and Real Estate with Tk 40 crore (8.51 percent).

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended sharply lower with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -losing 37.63 points to settle at 18,533.30 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX shedding 22.66 points to close at 11,109.69.

Of the issues traded, 62 declined, 25 advanced and 65 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.

The port city's bourse traded 51.06 lakh shares and mutual fund units with turnover value worth about Tk 12.88 crore.