Business Desk :
Stocks closed marginally lower for the two straight sessions on Thursday amid thin participation of investors as they mostly focused on Robi’s initial public offering (IPO).
The subscription of the biggest IPO in the history of Bangladesh started on Tuesday and will continue until November 23. The company would raise Tk 5.23 billion under the fixed price method.
Market operators said the investors also followed cautious approach amid rising trend of Covid-19 infections and possible impact of the second wave of the virus which might have adverse impact on the country’s economy.
The secondary market remained slow in recent weeks as investors gave their attention to the primary market to collect at least an IPO lot to book some short-term profit, said a merchant banker.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), also went down by 9.76 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 4,879. Two other indices, however, edged higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, gained 1.14 points to finish at 1,701 and the DSE Shariah Index rose 2.60 points to close at 1,128.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, remained low and amounted to Tk 5.83 billion, which was Tk 7.0 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 5.45 billion.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 327 issues traded, 165 closed lower, 93 ended higher and 69 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco Pharma continued to dominate the turnover chart with 4.51 million shares worth Tk 668 million changing hands, followed by Square Pharma, Brac Bank, Beximco and Grameenphone.
Bangladesh Lamps was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.21 per cent while Genex Infosys was the worst loser, losing 9.15 per cent following its price adjustment after record date.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also edged lower with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)-losing 16 points to close at 13,968 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX shedding 10 points to close at 8,410.
Of the issues traded, 118 declined, 73 advanced and 43 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 7.34 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of more than Tk 148 million.
