Low-cost Bangladesh Bank fund fails to cheer up stocks
Turnover at the DSE stood at Tk340.9 crore yesterday, 5.8 percent down from Tk362 crore in the previous session
Bourses extended losses today as weakening confidence among investors overpowered the positive vibe created from the expectation of a low-cost fund from the central bank to support the market with liquidity.
The prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, slipped 3 points or 0.1 percent to close the day at 4,386 points.
Bourses remained sluggish and the indices closed mixed today, despite the Bangladesh Bank's recent announcement to support the stock market with liquidity and to provide a loan size of Tk2,000 crore with a 5-7 percent interest rate.
Finance Minister recently announced plans to list five state-owned banks in the bourses. However, the banking sector took a beating today. Investors remained doubtful about the performance of the state banks.
"The recent quarterly earnings declarations of most of the companies were not up to the mark. Even if the central bank injects funds into the stock market, the performances of the companies have to depict growth to keep the stock market afloat. In that way, the investors will have some confidence on the shares of the companies they will invest in," said a top-level employee at a merchant bank, asking not to be named.
The merchant banker also told The Business Standard that other macroeconomic factors such as export earnings have also been weak, for which, the textile sector has been ending in the negative territory during recent trades.
DS30, the blue-chip index, also slid by a point or 0.1 percent to settle at 1,492 points, whereas DSES, the Shariah-based index, gained 4 points or 0.4 percent to stand at 1,016 points.
At the Chittagong Stock Exchange, benchmark index Caspi witnessed a loss of 31 points or 0.2 percent to close at 13,381 points.
The market started the session with an incline and the DSEX reached above the 4,400-point mark during the early hours of trade. However, this upward movement in the intraday performance graph did not sustain and the index gradually kept on losing points till the end of the session.
DS30, the blue-chip index, displayed a similar trend to that of DSEX in its intraday performance graph while the DSES graph showed a flat scenario today, ending the trading session in green.
Turnover at the DSE stood at Tk340.9 crore today, 5.8 percent down from Tk362 crore in the previous session.
On the other hand, turnover at the port city bourse increased 27 percent from Tk13.6 crore to Tk17.3 crore today.
Pharmaceutical stocks contributed the highest, 18.4 percent, to the total turnover value, followed by engineering stocks adding 16.7 percent, and textile stocks adding 10.3 percent.
Most of the sectors ended in the negative territory today, with travel and leisure exhibiting the highest price correction of 2.1 percent while cement posted the highest price gain of 3.2 percent.
Among the large-cap sectors, pharmaceuticals registered 0.3 percent price appreciation, whereas banks and textile both fell 0.6 percent, telecom stocks lost 0.7 percent and financial stocks dropped 1.4 percent price on the sector return board.
Lafarge Holcim Bangladesh Ltd was once again the most traded stock with a turnover value of Tk20 crore, closing the day at Tk46.7 per share. The stock was followed by SK Trims and Industries Ltd with a turnover value of Tk15.2 crore, closing at Tk55.3 per share.
SK Trims and Industries Ltd was also the best performer in the gainers' table, advancing 10 percent, while Metro Spinning Ltd was the day's worst loser after shedding 6.4 percent and closing at Tk7.3 per share, said the DSE website.
Losers outnumbered gainers as out of 353 issues traded, 124 advanced, 166 declined, and 63 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.