Many junk stocks have continued to rally against the price correction experienced by market blue-chip stocks, leading to volatility on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
Such stocks, including Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills, also topped the chart of gainers on Thursday.
On the other hand, the majority of blue-chip stocks, including Square Pharmaceuticals and Grameenphone, ended in the red, and the DSE broad index, DSEX, extended its losing streak for the second consecutive session.
Of the 385 issues traded on Thursday, only 34 advanced, 307 declined, and 44 remained unchanged.
The majority of the 34 gainers were loss-making companies. Apart from Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills, Standard Ceramics, Phoenix Finance, National Bank, Usmania Glass Sheet Factory, and First Finance were on Thursday's top gainers' chart.
On the day, the market prices of such 'Z' category companies advanced between 4.16 per cent and 8.33 per cent.
Some of the companies have experienced losses over the last few years.
For example, Usmania Glass Sheet Factory reported losses ranging between Tk 46 million and Tk 125 million during FY20-FY24.
Its stock started to rally on November 13 and continued the trend until Thursday.
During the period, the junk stock prices jumped between 26 per cent and 63 per cent on the DSE.
Zeal Bangla experienced the highest appreciation of 63 per cent.
Some other companies, which were categorised as 'B' category enterprises and distributed nominal dividends, were also on the chart of top gainers on Thursday.
Of them, BD Thai was the second gainer, with an appreciation of 9.86 per cent. The stock of BD Thai also saw an appreciation of 87 per cent between March 13 and December 4.
Some fundamentally sound companies, however, were also on Thursday's gainers' chart.
They include BRAC Bank, Beximco Pharma, and Pubali Bank.
The Dhaka bourse opened Thursday's session on a negative note and continued a declining trend until mid-session.
Later, a timid recovery was observed, but the DSEX failed to recover the initial loss and eventually closed at 4,886 points, down 0.83 per cent or 40.92 points.
Investors' selling pressure played a role behind the day's volatility.
The companies that played a pivotal role in dragging down the broad index include Islami Bank Bangladesh, Square Pharmaceuticals, and Walton Hi-Tech Industries.
At the end of the session, the DSE recorded a turnover of Tk 3.64 billion, down 10 per cent from the previous session.
A market review by EBL Securities said the DSE extended its bearish run for a second session as investor sell-offs pushed most scrips into the red amid prevailing uncertainties in the equity market.
Simtex Industries was the top turnover leader with a value of Tk 276 million, followed by BD Thai Food, Shahjibazar Power Company, and Orion Infusion.
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