Business Desk :
The core index of the Dhaka Stock (DSE) fell below the 6,000-mark on Monday, after staying above a single day, as risk-averse investors opted for booking profit on quick-gaining stocks.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, surpassed the 6000-mark on Sunday after more than three years and scaled back amid highly volatile trade on Monday.
After four and a half hours trading, the core index of the DSE went down by 17.70 points or 0.29 per cent to settle at 5,991, after gaining 221 points in the past four straight sessions.
Market experts said the investors went for booking profit as stocks had been rising for the last few days while some rebalanced their portfolios based on largest quarterly earnings disclosures.
The market capitalisation of the DSE, however, soared to a fresh all-time high at Tk 5,038 billion on Monday, surpassing the previous day’s record high of Tk 5,034 billion.
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) also saw a fractional gain of 0.31 point to close at 1,285. However, the DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, fell 2.46 points to finish at 2,205.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, dropped to Tk 17.32 billion, which was 19 per cent lower than the previous day’s tally of Tk 21.49 billion.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 359 issues traded, 203 declined, 102 advanced and 54 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco – the flagship company of Beximco Group- continued to dominate the turnover chart with shares worth about Tk 1.25 billion changing hands, followed by Confidence Cement (Tk 763 million), LafargeHolcim (Tk 664 million), Dutch-Bangla Bank (Tk 502 million) and IFAD Autos (Tk 412 million).
Confidence Cement was the day’s best performer, hitting the upper limit circuit breaker with nearly 10 per cent gain following its impressive quarterly earnings growth while Union Capital was the worst loser, losing 12.66 per cent following its ‘no’ dividend declaration news.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended marginally lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI -losing 19 points to settle at 17,359 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX shedding 10 points to close at 10,462.
Of the issues traded, 169 declined, 89 advanced and 39 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city’s bourse traded 24.58 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 589 million.
