Stocks break 8-day winning streak

Stocks edged lower Monday, breaking eight straight sessions’ winning streak with declining turnover as investors booked marginal profit from their previous purchase.The market started in a positive trend in the morning and the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) - DSEX- gained 4.56 points within first 30 minutes, but it could not sustain later, eventually ended at 4,550.47 points, shedding 14.92 points or 0.32 per cent. Newly introduced DSEX Shariah Index (DSES) lost 1.22 points or 0.12 per cent to close at 941.27 points. Inception date of index is January 24, 2011 with the starting value (base value) of 1,000. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips also lost 2.82 points or 0.17 per cent to close at 1,609.27 points. Turnover value on the DSE came down to Tk 6.10 billion, registering 13.84 per cent decline over the previous session’s turnover value of Tk 7.08 billion. Losers beat gainers 133 to 124, with 35 issues closed unchanged on the DSE floor. Activities also decreased in the prime bourse. A total of 0.137 million trades were executed with 139.69 million shares and mutual fund units were trading volume.
The market capitalization of the DSE stood at Tk 2,780.16 billion against Tk 2,788.88 billion in the previous session. United Airways dominated the top turnover chart with shares worth Tk 299.06 million changing hands followed by Summit Purbanchol Power, UCBL, Padma Oil and Meghna Petroleum. Pragati Life Insurance was the day’s highest gainer, posting a rise of 9.69 per cent while Meghna Condensed Milk was the day’s worst losers, slumping by 9.45 per cent. The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed lower, with its Selective Categories Index – CSCX lost 39.02 points to close at 8,931.11 points. Losers beat gainers 120 to 84, with 18 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 16.36 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 577.63 million.