Stocks fluctuated yesterday before settled in the negative zone as the investors went for selling shares to pocket profit.
The benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DGEN, shed 14 points or 0.22 percent to end at 6,627.
On the port city’s bourse, the selective categories index, CSCX, the main yardstick of Chittagong Stock Exchange, lost 17 points or 0.15 percent, to close at 12,208.
Stocks on the DSE suffered a steep fall in the first five minutes of the day’s trading, declining more than 50 points. However, it showed a dramatic recovery later. The indices of bourses closed negative.
Analysts attributed the market swings to price corrections.
“It is a rational behavior of the market as share prices declined for three days after gaining for a few days,” said Prof Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, who teaches finance at Dhaka University.
“It is a price correction as investors went for selling shares to make new investment into the market,” said Khan, also a former chief executive officer of DSE.
Yawer Sayeed, managing director of AIMS of Bangladesh, said shares prices declined as the investors went for profit-taking selling shares from different sectors.
He said the government’s decision to offload more shares of the listed state-owned enterprises is a very good decision, which will increase the supply of scrips into the market.
Two state-run companies Meghna Petroleum and Jamuna Oil started offloading shares onto the stockmarket yesterday. Meghna Petroleum and Jamuna Oil advanced 1.52 percent and 2.7 percent respectively, to close the day at Tk 200.7 and Tk 281.1.
The banking sector lost 1.2 percent and non-bank financial institutions were down by 1.5 percent. The telecoms sector however gained 0.29 percent, pharmaceuticals 0.89 percent and fuel and power 1.17 percent.
IDLC Finance declined 3.6 percent following its publication of half-yearly earnings, said BRAC EPL in its daily market analysis.
Of the total 263 issues traded on the DSE floor, 135 declined, 114 advanced and 14 remained unchanged.
United Airways topped the turnover chart with 11.41 lakh shares worth Tk 64.42 crore changing hands.
Sinobangla Industries was the biggest gainer of the day, posting 9.45 percent rise, while the IDLC Finance was the worst loser.
Turnover on the DSE floor stood at Tk 1,726 crore, a 2.8 percent hike over the previous day’s Tk 1,680 crore. More than 20 crore shares and mutual fund units changed hands on the country’s premier bourse.
-WIth The Daily Star input
