Profit taking pulls DSE down

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The busy road at Firingibazar Bridgerghat area in Chittagong went under water Monday due to tidal surge caused by low over the Bay, disrupting vehicular movements. — FocusBangla Photo

FE Report
Dhaka stocks dropped on profit taking Monday, snapping the fifth straight day rally with a sharp gain the previous day (Sunday).
The DSE General Index (DGEN) -- the benchmark index -- slid 40.14 points or 1.43 per cent to close at 2750.51, after being dragged down by profit taking in banking and insurance sectors which saw significant rise the previous day.
The market weighed down on profit taking as investors caught their breath after a rise in the previous five consecutive sessions, experts said.
The market started with an initial gain of about 12 points in the first few minutes but trimmed losses the early gains due to the profit booked by the investors in banks and insurances issues.
The total turnover figure had declined to Tk 6.57 billion from the all-time peak of Tk 7.81 billion Sunday. However, it was still higher than usual.
Losers beat the gainers as out of 248 issues traded, 84 advanced while 157 declined and seven remained unchanged.
"I think the market has managed the inevitable profit taking very well, which is a positive move showed by the investor," said Rakibur Rahman, president of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
"All should bear in mind that the market can't go up indefinitely, nor will it go down for ever," he added.
All Shares Price Index (DSI) and DSE-20 comprising blue chip lost 33.45 points and 20.73 points to close at 2284.71 and 2194.94 respectively.
The top five most traded issues were Summit Power (Tk 375.26 million), Beximco Pharma (Tk 348.18 million), Lanka Bangla Finance (Tk 319.08), Beximco Limited (Tk 243.50 million) and AB Bank (Tk 241.13 million).
The pharmaceuticals and cement companies gained in early hours but latter companies could not sustain the gain. The gain in non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) slightly prevented the index going down further, according to the Equity Partners Limited (EPL), an investment bank.
All banks lost with the exception of One Bank that gained 6.3 per cent. Most of the banks lost more than five per cent.
Although the number of gainers and losers among the NBFIs was close, big gains in some of the larger market capitalisation stocks pulled the sector up.
Among the big gainers were Prime Finance and Lanka Bangla Finance which rose 7.68 per cent and 6.61 per cent respectively.
Most of the mutual funds gained while pharmaceuticals ended mixed with big guns Square Pharma rising 0.27 per cent.
ACI Limited gained 6.1 per cent, ACI Formulations 2.9 per cent. GlaxoSmithKline lost 0.2 per cent while Renata gained 0.3 per cent.
In the fuel and power sector, Titas Gas lost 0.3 per cent. Power Grid gained 1.1 per cent while DESCO lost 1.8 per cent, Summit Power 2.4 per cent.
Meghna Petroleum, the day's biggest loser, lost 10.4 per cent on resumption of trading after the record date.
Almost the entire insurance sector went down. General insurance companies suffered the most as most of them lost more than five per cent.