DSE indices up, turnover hits nine-month low

FE Report Dhaka stocks advanced Monday marginally with the lowest turnover, in value terms, in nine months amid hunger strike being observed by the aggrieved investors demanding restoration of normalcy in the stock market. Investors and traders said the day's turnover retraced due mainly to investors' distressed sentiment, as the police detained some investors in the morning who were observing hunger strike. "Presently, our market is passing a very difficult situation, as the big investors are almost out of the market. On the other hand, investors have become more panicked, as they are under the scanner of law enforcers," commented a number of retail investors. After the end of day's trading, the benchmark DSE General Index went up by 2.02 per cent or 36.87 points to close at 5423.91. The broader All Shares Price Index (DSI) gained 0.643 per cent or 29.06 points to close at 4547.88. The DSE-20 Index, comprising blue-chip shares, also rose 0.88 per cent or 33.64 points. Out of 259 issues traded on the day, 178 advanced, 71 declined and 10 remained unchanged. On the day, all major sectors went up marginally. Among the sectors, banks, NBFIs, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, fuel and power and mutual funds were up by 0.90 per cent, 0.72 per cent, 0.14 per cent, 0.24 per cent, 0.38 per cent and 1.92 per cent respectively. Finally, the turnover stood at Tk 2.27 billion, which was the lowest turnover in the last nine months since January 25. On January 25, the DSE recorded Tk 2.06 billion turnover. The day's turnover leaders included Beximco Limited, Lafarge Surma Cement, Delta Life Insurance, Summit Power, UCBL, Grameenphone, MI Cement and CMC Kamal. The top ten gainers included Popular Life First Mutual Fund, Rahim Textile, ICB AMCL 2nd Mutual Fund, Jute Spinners and Green Delta Mutual Fund. The top ten losers included Northern Jute, Zeal Bangla Sugar, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC), Pharma Aids and Provati Insurance. Meanwhile, at the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), the selective categories index (CSCX) went up by 92.23 points or 0.95 per cent to close at 9782.13 points. Out of 168 issues traded on the day, 118 advanced, 36 declined and 14 remained unchanged. At the end of the day, the turnover value at CSE stood at Tk 414 million.