Stocks extend losses for second straight day, though DSE turnover rises

The downward trend in the country's capital market continued on Monday (9 November), the second working day of the week. Most securities fell on the main bourse, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), pulling the key indices down, though turnover showed some improvement.

On the other bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), more companies lost value than gained, so its index also fell and turnover shrank. The market has now fallen on both working days of the week so far.

In the morning, most shares and mutual funds rose at the start of trading on the DSE, pushing the indices up, and that positive trend held for the first two hours. But the picture changed quickly after noon.

A sudden wave of selling in insurance companies spread its negative impact to other sectors, and by the close the losses outweighed the gains, ending the day in the red.

By the end of the day on the DSE, 135 listed companies gained while 192 lost value and 56 remained unchanged.

In the insurance sector, under selling pressure, only 14 companies gained while 41 lost value.

By category, among fundamentally strong companies paying dividends of 10 percent or more, 58 gained while 112 fell. Among mid-cap companies, 36 rose against 25 that fell. Among 'Z' group companies that pay no dividend, 41 gained while 54 lost. In mutual funds, five funds gained while 19 fell.

The benchmark DSEX index fell 9 points to 5,392. The DSE-30 index, made up of selected blue-chip companies, lost 8 points to 2,049, and the DSE Shariah index fell 4 points to 1,044.

Even so, turnover rose to Tk 654.70 crore, which is Tk 95.90 crore more than the previous working day.

Shahjibazar Power dominated turnover in Dhaka, with shares worth about Tk 28.96 crore changing hands. Dorin Power came second at Tk 19.53 crore and Envoy Textile third at Tk 18.02 crore. Others on the top list included Evince Textile, Sayham Textile, Malek Spinning, Runner Automobiles, Shinepukur Ceramics, Paramount Textile and Baraka Patenga Power.

On the CSE, 80 companies gained while 87 lost, the overall CASPI index fell 14 points, and total turnover dropped to Tk 9.45 crore.