Business Desk :
Stocks slipped into the red on Wednesday, snapping a six-day gaining streak, as the risk-averse investors went on sector-wise issues amid revised trading hours.
Trading on the bourses started at 9:30am and continued until 1:50pm. Earlier, the trading schedule was 10:00am to 2:30pm.
The revised trading hour schedule came in line with the government’s instructions to reschedule office timing in order to cut electricity consumption.
Following the previous six days’ upward trend, the market opened lower and the downward trend continued until the end of the session amid profit booking tendency among investors.
DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 35.47 points or 0.56 per cent to settle at 6280, after gaining 167 points in the past six consecutive days.
Two other indices also edged lower with the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, dropping 21.67 points to finish at 2,243 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) fell 8.06 points to close at 1,379.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also came down to Tk 11.34 billion on the prime bourse, which was 24 per cent lower than the previous day’s seven-month highest turnover of Tk 14.87 billion.
Market analysts said stocks dropped, triggered by the profit booking by the retail investors on the quick-gaining stocks.
“The market fall as some investors sold large-cap shares in the later part of the session,” said a merchant banker.
Some big-cap stocks such as Beximco, Beacon Pharma, LafargeHolcim, Olympic Industries and GPH Ispat jointly contributed 17 points fall of DSEX, according to amarstock.com, a market data analyst.
Losers took a modest lead over the gainers, as out of 380 issues traded, 215 closed lower, 71 higher and 94 others remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Orion Pharma became the most-traded stock with shares worth Tk 772 million changing hands, followed by Beximco, IPDC Finance, Makson Spinning Mills and Metro Spinning Mills.
Union Capital was the day’s top gainer, gaining 10 per cent while Jute Spinners was the day’s worst loser, shedding 9.70 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) losing 66 points to settle at 18,503 and its Selective Categories Index (CSCX) falling 40 points to close at 11,088.
Of the issues traded, 137 declined, 75 advanced and 75 issues remained unchanged.
The port-city bourse traded 10.88 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 288 million.
