Core index hits two-month low

Stocks extended the losing streak for third straight session Sunday.
The core index of the Dhaka bourse on the day came down to nearly two months low as investors were mostly cautious ahead of year-ending.
Market operators said retail investors remained idle about fresh exposure to the market, while institutional investors adopted a 'go-slow' strategy as year-closing nears, taking the key index to two months low.
However, the share prices of newly- listed Nahee Aluminum Composite Panel, which made its share trading debut on Sunday, soared 716 per cent to close at Tk 81.60 each on the major bourse.
Following the previous week's marginal correction, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) opened on positive note.
Index maintained positive trend during the first hour of the session but then started to fall continuously. Finally, the key index of the country's prime bourse fell more than 23 points while the CSE All Shares Price Index (CAPSI) lost 65 points at closing.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 23.48 points or 0.38 per cent to settle at 6,159. It was the lowest level of DSEX in nearly two months since November 8 last.
"The index settled in red zone as investors exerted selling pressure on stocks from banking, fuel & power and pharmaceuticals sectors issues," commented EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in an analysis.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips saw a fractional loss of 0.14 point to close at 2,231. However, the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) advanced 0.40 points or 0.03 per cent to finish at 1,367.
The total turnover came down to Tk 3.60 billion on the DSE, which was 2.13 per cent lower than the previous session's turnover of Tk 3.68 billion.
Engineering sector dominated the turnover chart, triggered by the new issue, Nahee Aluminium. The sector accounted for 29 per cent of the day's total turnover, followed by banking sector with 19 per cent and pharmaceuticals 10 per cent.
International Leasing Securities, said, "The market faced correction further as the investors bagged profits on the sector specific stocks".
The stockbroker noted that the trading session opened on positive note, but the trend failed to sustain as investors went on a selling spree in textile, fuel & power, financial institution and banking sectors issues.
The large-cap sectors showed mixed performances. Engineering sector posted the highest loss of 1.57 per cent, followed by power with 0.87 per cent, non-bank financial 0.84 per cent, bank 0.51 per cent and pharmaceuticals 0.40 per cent.
However, cement sector posted 5.1 per cent return on the news of Lafarge Surma cement's 100 per cent acquisition of Holcim Cement (Bangladesh), followed by telecommunication with 1.03 per cent and food & allied 0.08 per cent.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 333 issues traded, 245 drifted lower, 58 ticked higher and 30 remained unchanged on the DSE.
Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed lower with CSE All Shares Price Index (CAPSI) losing 65 points to finish at 19,058.
The Selective Categories Index of the Chittagong bourse -- CSCX -- also lost 39 points to settle at 11,518.

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