Stocks see modest gains after two-day fall

Dhaka stocks witnessed modest gains on Wednesday, after two days of profit booking fall.

The trading started on a flat note in the morning and continued to climb steadily at close as investors bet on ceramics, telecommunications, life insurance, IT, and tannery stocks.

The benchmark DSEX index rose 37 points or 0.05 percent to close at 6,417, recovering almost the entire losses seen in the previous two sessions due to profit booking.

Other indices, the Shariah-based DSES index gained over 8 points or 0.58 percent to 1,396, and the blue-chip DS30 index moved up 14 points or 0.63 percent to 2,323.

However, the market breadth remained negative as out of 374 issues traded, shares of 111 companies advanced, 229 declined and 34 remained unchanged.

Amid shortened trading hours due to coronavirus-induced lockdown, the volume of trade by value declined about 7 percent to Tk 1,360 crore.

People Insurance and Safko Spinning were the top gainers as both the companies hit the upper limit circuit at 10 percent. Fu-Wang Ceramic Industries was the third-largest gainer, surging more than 9 percent, followed by Salvo Chemicals, Rahima Food, and Beacon Pharmaceuticals.

The worst losers included Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh, Emerald Oil Industries, Global Heavy Chemicals, CAN Textile, Tamijuddin Textile, and Tung Hai Knitting and Dyeing.

Fu-Wang Ceramics was the top traded stock, followed by SAIF Powertec, Beximco, GPH Ispat, and Central Insurance.