Dhaka stocks close lower

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FE Report
Dhaka stocks closed lower Monday as a sudden tightening of loan disbursement by some merchant banks depressed the sentiment of the investors, particularly the retailers.
Investors remained active for about two and a half hours that helped the key index gain more than 52 points in the second hour of the trade on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). But it fell later on the merchant banks' move.
"Some merchant banks started reducing their loan disbursement to their clients against the backdrop of unusual gains of some particular issues that have affected the market," said a broker preferring not to be named.
The market barometers - the benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN), All Shares Price Index and DSE-20 blue chip index, -- shed 10.08 points, 8.28 points and 5.48 points to close at 3081.36, 2596.16 and 2398.65 respectively.
Dominated by losers, the total turnover rose to Tk 4.01 billion from previous day's Tk 3.90 billion. Out of 253 issues traded on the day, 104 advanced, 140 declined and nine remained unchanged.
But the total market capitalisation slightly came down to Tk 835.71 billion on the day against previous day's Tk 837.88 billion.
Stock prices of the Jamuna Oil gained 7.33 per cent to close at Tk 307.40 per share, making it the top turnover leader with shares worth Tk 424.73 million changing hands.
According to ICB, the sale agent, offloading of all the 1,35,00,000 shares of Jamuna Oil completed on the day.