Stocks dull after Eid holidays

Trading of Dhaka stocks resumed on Thursday with the losing streak, after the Eid holidays, as the cautious investors opted for booking profit on stocks that failed to meet the earning expectations.
The participation of investors was thin in the brokerage houses as most of the investors are yet to return to Dhaka after celebrating Eid in their village home. However, many of them executed trade through mobile phones.
The stock markets remained closed for six days from April 29 to May 5 on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of the Muslims, including May Day and weekly holidays.
Following the last trading day before Eid vacation, the market opened lower and the downturn continued until end of the session, eventually ending over 12 points lower.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, went down by 12.50 points or 0.18 per cent to settle at 6,643. The core index lost over 34 points in the past two consecutive sessions.
Two other indices also closed in the red. The DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, fell 7.19 points to finish at 2,453 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) lost 3.34 points to close at 1,443.
Turnover, the crucial indicator of the market, also plunged to Tk 4.68 billion on the country's premier bourse, slumping by 46 per cent over previous session's mark of Tk 8.70 billion, despite the trading hours extended to the pre-Ramadan period.
Market operators said the risk-averse investors opted for booking profit on sector specific stocks which failed to meet their expectations in the latest corporate declarations.
A good number of listed companies published their quarterly earnings and year-end dividend declarations on Thursday.
"Quarterly declarations of some companies failed to meet the expectation that prompted the short-term profit booking tendency among the investors," a merchant banker said.
Besides, some investors remained cautious over the country's macroeconomic situation on the account of global price instabilities and a rise in business cost, he said.
EBL Securities noted that some investors have also decided to take a sideline approach amidst the ongoing earnings declarations.
According to International Leasing Securities, the risk-averse investors kept their selling spree on sector-specific issues that failed to meet the earning expectations.
However, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) edged up with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -gaining 15 points to settle at 19,489 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX - advancing 9.0 points to close at 11,693.
Of the issues traded, 109 advanced, 94 declined, and 30 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port-city bourse traded 5.21 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value worth Tk 148 million.

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