Stocks slide after four-day gain

Stocks posted a marginal loss on Monday, snapping a four-day winning streak, as cautious investors opted for booking profit on quick-gaining issues. The market opened on an upbeat note and the key index crossed the 7100-mark, rising about 30 points within the hour of trading. But, the rest of the session went down amid profit booking tendency among investors.

Finally, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 28.78 points or 0.40 per cent to settle at 7,060, after gaining 38 points in the past four consecutive sessions. Turnover, the most important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 12.41 billion, which was 2.67 per cent lower than the previous day’s tally of Tk 12.75 billion.

Market experts said the risk-averse investors booked some profit on stocks that saw a significant gain in the past few trading days, taking the market into the red territory. The investors mostly followed a cautious approach as the market indices crossed the 7100-mark in the early trading while some investors favoured booking profit, said a leading broker.

He noted that the market witnessed high volatility in the past four straight sessions as investors traded cautiously amid profit booking tendency on sector-specific issues. Two other indices also edged lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, dropped 7.91 points to finish at 2,597 and the DSE Shariah Index fell 3.13 points to close at 1,519.

Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 380 issues traded, 272 declined, 64 advanced and 44 issues remained unchanged on the DSE. A total number of 335,461 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 288.82 million securities. The market capitalisation of the DSE dropped to Tk 5,651 billion on Monday, up from Tk 5,671 billion in the previous session.

Fortune Shoes, which gained 4.92 per cent, was the most traded stock with shares worth over Tk 777 million changing hands, followed by Beximco (Tk 608 million), Orion Pharma (Tk 517 million), Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (Tk 504 million) and National Life Insurance (Tk 455 million).

Tamijuddin Textile Mills was the day’s top gainer, posting an 8.73 per cent rise while Reliance Insurance was the worst loser, losing 6.05 per cent.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –losing 70 points to settle at 20,705 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX—shedding 41 points to close at 12,432.

Of the issues traded, 187 declined, 88 advanced and 81 issues remained unchanged on the CSE. The port city bourse traded 23.37 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 655 million.