Markets struggle but stay afloat
The market witnessed a decline in the early hours of trade yesterday, but gradually moved towards an upward trend, finally ending the trading session on a buoyant note
Stocks witnessed a choppy session today, as investors remained in the sidelines to observe the market movement in the early hours of trading.
The key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, inched up 14 points or 0.3 percent to close the day at 4,528 points.
DSES, the Shariah-based index, however, slipped 0.3 points or 0.03 percent to stand at 1,035 points while DS30, the blue-chip index, gained 2 points or 0.2 percent to stand at 1,546 points.
At the port city bourse, CASPI – the benchmark index – posted a moderate gain of 49 points or 0.4 percent to close at 13,793 points.
The market witnessed a decline in the early hours of trade today, but gradually moved towards an upward trend, finally ending the trading session on a buoyant note.
Institutional investors showed their active participation during the mid-session of trading that pushed the market to remain afloat in positive territory, which sustained till the end of the session, according to the Daily Market Review of EBL Securities Ltd.
Investors' participation declined 7.8 percent today and settled at Tk474.1 crore turnover value, from Tk514.4 crore in the preceding session.
The engineering stocks contributed the highest 18 percent to the total turnover value followed by textile stocks, adding 12.6 percent, and pharmaceutical stocks, adding 11.7 percent.
Most of the sectors exhibited gains today, with food topping the sector return board with a 3.6 percent price appreciation.
Among the large-cap sectors, pharmaceutical stocks gained 0.4 percent despite the 0.5 percent price slide in Square Pharma shares. Bank stocks posted a gain of 0.2 percent, while telecom stocks witnessed 1.7 percent price adjustment, along with a 2.3 percent slide in Grameenphone's share price.
The GPH Ispat Ltd recorded an earnings per share of Tk0.86 for July-December period of 2019 against Tk0.88 for the same period in 2018. The company's earnings per share (EPS) faced a decline of 2.3 percent.
Lafarge Holcim Bangladesh Ltd was once again the most traded stock with a turnover value of Tk35.2 crore, closing the day at Tk44.6 per share. It was followed by SS Steel with a turnover value of Tk15.9 crore, closing at Tk14.1 per share.
The Global Heavy Chemicals Ltd topped the gainers' table advancing 9.9 percent, closing at Tk26.6 per share while Vanguard AML BD Finance Mutual Fund One was the day's worst loser after shedding 7 percent and closing at Tk5.3 per share, according to the DSE website.
Losers were slightly ahead of the gainers as out of the 356 issues traded, 150 advanced, 158 declined and 48 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
