Dhaka bourse edges up on gains of speculative stocks

Stocks edged up on Tuesday after choppy trading as investors continued their chase after junk stocks on rumours in anticipation of quick gains.
Low-performing stocks are still favorites among a section of investors even though these securities are believed to be manipulated.
Problem-hit Union Capital, which is incurring losses since 2019 and has failed to pay back its depositors even after maturity of schemes, occupied the top gaining spot.
The stock surged 10 per cent to hit the upper circuit breaker to close at Tk 9.90 on Tuesday. The price is still lower than the face value - Tk 10.
Union Capital reported loss for the first time in 2019 because of rising provisions against bad assets. Its losses went higher amid non-recovery of bad loans.
Fu-Wang Food, which moved above the floor price two days back, jumped 9.96 per cent on Tuesday despite the fact that the company failed to declare any dividend for the past two consecutive years.
The share price of Olympic Accessories climbed up -- 9.77 per cent -- though it has been reporting losses for the last two years. The stock took off from the floor a week back.
Some other low-performing firms such as Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries, FAS Finance, Dacca Dyeing, Fu-Wang Ceramic and Midas Financing were on the list of top gainers too.
These companies have not been able to pay dividends regularly due to losses and are struggling to keep production on.
Khan Brother's stock price doubled in just three weeks and featured the top gainers' list frequently in recent times even though the firm is in the red.
Investors have been turning to junk shares instead of fundamentally strong companies in hopes of higher returns from low investments.
"Allure of potential quick gains prompted a section of investors to seize opportunities in specific stocks that recently broke out from the floor price," said EBL Securities.
The stocks have, however, low impacts on the market index. DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up only 2.75 points to settle at 6,334.
The DS30 Index, which consists of blue-chip companies, gained 2.01 points to 2,193 and the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, saw a fractional gain of 0.65 point to 1,374.
Investors' participation in the market dropped 12 per cent and the total turnover amounted to Tk 6 billion.
A majority of the traded issues saw price erosion. Among 375 issues traded, 120 closed lower, 74 higher and 181 issues remained unchanged.
Fu-Wang Food became the most-traded stock with shares worth Tk 418 million changing hands, closely followed by Khan Brother PP Woven Bag Industries, Sea Pearl Beach Reports, JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing and Fu-Wang Ceramic.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also edged up with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -gaining 21 points to settle at 18,726 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX -rising 12 points to close at 11,194.
Of the issues traded, 70 declined, 62 advanced and 79 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city's bourse traded 5.52 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover volume of Tk 188 million
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