Stocks close lower for the third consecutive session

Selling pressure in majority scrips pushed stock indices lower on Tuesday.

Three consecutive down sessions corrected half of the upward move over the previous three sessions.

DSEX, the broad-based index at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), falling 0.62% over the session closed at 6,954 on Tuesday.

Amid a confusion regarding short term market direction, the events such as remittance inflow drop in October, revised down GDP growth rate following the change in base year, suspected market manipulation by some quarters further hurt investors' confidence, said a brokerage official.

Most of the sectoral stocks observed a setback since the investors remained on the sideline amid recent volatility in the market, said EBL Securities in their daily market commentary.

The hype among general investors was mostly concentrated in the textile sector as some textile stocks are gaining abnormally on their days of annual corporate disclosure when there remains no price limit.

Following the exorbitant returns from Fareast Knitting, Hamid Fabrics, Safko Spinning and many other stocks, Prime Textile stocks gained 22.3% on Tuesday, while a large number of textile stocks increased within their daily limit for price hike.

Investors' participation on the bourse dropped to Tk1,275 crore on Monday and it slightly increased to Tk1,295 on Tuesday.

Textile, Banks and Pharmaceuticals sectors contributed the maximum 26%, 13% and 12% of the daily turnover respectively in the DSE.

Most of the sectors observed negative returns, out of which cement led the drop in market capitalization with a 2.5% fall, while the market capitalisation of tannery, and food and allied sectors declined 1.9%.

Jute, textile and telecommunication added to their market capitalisation.

Market capitalisation is the total current market value of all shares a listed company issued.

Out of the 376 issues traded, 147 advanced, 201 declined, and 28 remained unchanged in the DSE.

Blue-chip index DS 30 declined 0.75% as large cap stocks mostly faced selling pressure over the session.

Meanwhile, in the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) most of the indices fell more than their counterparts in the Dhaka bourse.

CSCX, the broad index there closed 0.67% lower to 12,256. Trading turnover in the port city bourse slightly increased to Tk43.52 crore.