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Stocks break rally on profit booking

Banking, textile, cement, engineering sectors suffer most


FE REPORT | August 26, 2021 00:00:00


Stocks witnessed a marginal correction Wednesday, snapping a three-day record-breaking rally, as risk-averse investors preferred to book profit on quick-gaining issues.

After setting records in the previous day, the market opened on a high note and the key index crossed 6,900 mark, but failed to sustain that level amid profit-booking sell-offs on sector-wise stocks.

At the end of the session, DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down 5.92 points or 0.08 per cent to settle at 6,878, after gaining 124 points in the past three straight sessions.

Two other indices also edged lower with the DS30 index, a group of 30 prominent companies, falling 3.86 points to settle at 2,459 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) shedding 1.27 points to close at 1,493.

Turnover stood at Tk 25.70 billion on the country's premier bourse, which was 7.0 per cent lower than the previous day's tally of Tk 27.62 billion.

Market analysts said the market saw a moderate correction as the risk-averse investors booked profits, particularly on textile, cement, engineering, power and banking sector stocks.

"The market rose in the past few days and many stock prices were up 10 per cent to 15 per cent, so investors are taking their profits now," said a merchant banker.

“The investors followed a cautious approach as the market indices reached a historical high in the previous day while some investors favored booking profit”, said a leading broker.

He, however said, optimistic investors continued to pour in funds on selective stocks amid lower returns from the money market.

Major sectors showed mixed performances with textile sector losing the most of 1.10 per cent, followed cement with 0.70 per cent, engineering 0.20 per cent, banking 0.10 per cent and power 0.10 per cent.

On the other hand, financial institutions, general insurance, telecom and food sectors gained 2.50 per cent, 1.0 per cent, 0.60 per cent and 0.10 per cent respectively.

Losers took a modest lead over the gainers, as out of 376 issues traded, 196 declined, 152 advanced and 26 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

Beximco topped the turnover list with shares worth Tk 873 million changing hands, closely followed by Islamic Finance (Tk 860 million), LankaBangla Finance (Tk 809 million), Shahjibazar Power (Tk 661 million) and Power Grid Company (Tk 472 million).

CVO Petrochemicals Refinery was the best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent, while HR Textile was the worst loser, losing 5.56 per cent.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended marginally lower with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)-shedding 7.50 points to finish at 200,57 while the Selective Categories Index - CSCX losing 4.77 points to close at 12,024.

Of the issues traded, 158 declined, 139 advanced and 28 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.

The port city bourse traded 36.25 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 1.0 billion.

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