Stocks slide further as banks keep losing

Stocks extended losing streak for the second consecutive session on Wednesday as cautious investors continued to book profit on quick-gaining issues amid virus worries.
Meanwhile, trading to be opened for four hours from today (Thursday) at 10:00am to 2:00pm in line with the banks revised transaction hours during the strict lockdown (July 8 to July 14).Trading, however, will remain closed on Sunday due to closure of banks.
Following the previous day's marginal correction, the market started on upbeat note and the key index rose 40 points within the first hour of trading. However, rest of the session went down steadily as investors opted for booking profit on banks, financial institutions and insurance stocks.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 19.35 points or 0.31 per cent to settle at 6,177. DSEX lost about 42 points in the two straight sessions.
Two other indices, however, edged higher with the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 2.49 points to finish at 2,231 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 2.77 points to close at 1,327.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, also dropped to Tk 15.77 billion on the country's premier bourse, which was 12 per cent lower than the previous day's mark of Tk 17.89 billion.
Market operators said the investors continued to opt for booking profit on sector specific stocks as the Covid-19 cases are rising alarmingly every day and the situation is deteriorating fast.
The investors stayed worried about the adverse impact of the pandemic on the macro-economic indicators of the country, commented International Leasing Securities.
The stockbroker noted that the risk-averse investors preferred to book some gain amid rising trend of the coronavirus infections and deaths in the country.
Some retail investors sold shares to pull out money ahead of Eid vacation, said a leading broker.
He noted that the shaky investors liquidated their holdings from financial institution, banking, life insurance, general insurance and textile sectors which pushed down the index.
However, the optimistic investors remained active on paper, cement, mutual fund and IT sector stocks, he added.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also kept losing with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)-shedding 74 points to close at 17,881 while the Selective Categories Index - CSCX losing 43 points to close at 10,739.
Of the issues traded, 170 declined, 110 advanced and 27 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 29.49 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 783 million.

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