The stock market edged up for the second straight session on Thursday as investors put their funds on selective stocks cautiously amid lack of confidence.
The market opened on an upbeat note and the key index soared 52 points within the first 15 minutes of trading, but the rest of the session wiped out most of the initial gains, ultimately ending over 9.0 points gain.
The DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 9.85 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 6,327.
The core index recovered only 16 points in the past two straight sessions. Before that the index lost over 114 points in three consecutive days.
Turnover, the crucial indicator of the market, dropped further and amounted to Tk 6.83 billion, which was 1.58 per cent lower than the previous day's tally of Tk 6.94 billion.
"Despite the market managing to settle in the green zone, volatility prevailed as investors' concerns loomed around rising Covid-19 infections and weak macroeconomic cues in the country," said EBL Securities.
Stocks edged up as investors remained concerned over an adverse situation in the market due to the deterioration of the exchange rate and rising inflation, said a merchant banker.
"The investors are struggling amid ongoing volatility in the market while several stocks failed to attract buyers due to the prevailing 2.0 per cent lower circuit breaker," he said.
He noted that many investors favored staying on the sidelines as concerns loomed due to runaway inflation, rising trend of coronavirus cases and the persisting global price instabilities.
The daily Covid-19 cases are rising alarmingly. At least 1,319 Covid-19 cases were recorded in 24 hours until 8:00am Thursday while the current positivity rate is 14.32 per cent.
The investors put their money cautiously on selective stocks as they found some issues at lucrative prices, said International Leasing Securities.
Two other indices also edged higher. The DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, gained 4.64 points to finish at 2,298 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) rose 1.45 points to close at 1,382.
Most sectors posted gains. Miscellaneous, power, banking and pharma sectors gained 1.30 per cent, 0.90 per cent, 0.30 per cent and 0.10 per cent respectively.
On the other hand, general insurance and engineering sectors lost 0.60 per cent and 0.10 per cent respectively.
Losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 381 issues traded, 162 declined, 145 advanced and 74 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco was the most-traded stock with shares worth Tk 394 million changing hands, closely followed by Shinepukur Ceramics (Tk 331 million), Fortune Shoes (Tk 227 million), Titas Gas (Tk 219 million) and IPDC Finance (Tk 197 million).
Newly listed Meghna Insurance was the top gainer, posting a 9.96 per cent gain while Apex Tannery was the day's worst loser, losing 1.99 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also edged up for the second straight session with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -gaining 16 points to settle at 18,618 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX -rising 9.52 points to close at 11,161.
Of the issues traded, 131 declined, 114 advanced and 42 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city's bourse traded 7.98 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value worth over Tk 232 million.
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