Dhaka stocks declined on Wednesday after rising in the earlier two trading sessions as investors remained skeptical about the political prospect amid violence surrounding the coming election.
The benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, declined by 0.38 per cent, or 16.49 points, to close at 4,294.22 points on the day.The DSEX started with a positive note on Wednesday advancing around 30 points within first half-an-hour of trading. But the index fell more than 40 points within next 25 minutes of trading.
The market witnessed volatile trading throughout the session to finish on the negative territory.
DS30, the blue-chip index of the DSE, finished flat at 1,507.24 points, adding 0.11 per cent or 1.77 points.
The turnover of the bourse declined to Tk 463.70 crore from Tk 541.53 crore in the previous trading session.
‘As investors found no improvement in the political front amid continuing violence despite the election is knocking at the door, it made them skeptical about the political prospect,’ a market operator said.
‘If no political consensus creates among the political parties for holding the next polls, it will push the country towards more violence,’ he said.
Another senior merchant banker said that profit taking was another reason behind the decline in share prices on the day after increase in the earlier two sessions.
‘The closer the election gets, the more divergence emerges in investors’ mindset,’ IDLC Investments said in its daily market commentary.
‘With strong confidence on positive long-run outlook, absolute uncertainty prevails in the market, regarding the short run,’ it said.
‘The long-run hope and the short-run dread brawled each other in recent sessions, with the dread dominating marginally, shedding off 16.5 points from DSEX, today [Wednesday],’ IDLC said.
Of the 285 shares and mutual funds that changed hands, 145 advanced, 115 declined and 25 remained unchanged.
Delta Life Insurance led the turnover chart as its shares worth Tk 32.01 crore changed hands on Wednesday.
Generation Next Fashions, Paramount Textile, Argon Denims, Fu-Wang Ceramic, Grameenphone, RN Spinning, Meghna Petroleum, Padma Oil and Bangladesh Building Systems were among other turnover leaders.
Rangpur Foundry gained the most as its share prices increased by 9.98 per cent, while Northern Jute Manufacturing Company lost the most, 6.74 per cent.
-With New Age input
