Stocks fall for second day

Major indices of the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges dropped for the second consecutive session yesterday as shaky investors continued their sell-offs amid persisting economic uncertainty.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), lost 11 points, or 0.17 per cent, to close at 6,245.

The DS30, the blue-chip index, fell 0.2 per cent to 2,222 while the DSES, the shariah-compliant index, dropped 0.1 per cent to 1,366.

Turnover, a key indicator of the market, slipped 0.46 per cent to Tk 431 crore.

Of the securities, 27 advanced, 137 declined and 146 did not show any price movement.

The market started the day with a downward movement as shaky investors continued their sell-offs fearing the floor price withdrawal, said International Leasing Securities Ltd. 

In order to prevent a freefall of stocks, the floor price, the lowest price at which a share can be traded, was brought back on July 29.

The floor was the average of the closing prices on July 28 of 2022 and the preceding four days.

On December 21, the stock market regulator lifted the artificial support measure for 169 companies out of nearly 400 companies listed on the DSE.

"The investors liquidated their position in travel, IT, general insurance, paper and tannery sectors to stop further deterioration of their portfolios' value," said the brokerage house in its daily market analysis. 

Among the sectors, jute was up 1.8 per cent. The travel sector fell 1.9 per cent, the IT sector was down 1.2 per cent and the general insurance sector declined 1.1 per cent.

The investors' activities were mainly focused on the IT sector, which captured 13.5 per cent of the day's turnover. The engineering sector and the food sector made up 12.9 per cent and 11.7 per cent of the session's turnover, respectively.

Bangladesh Lamps made the highest gain of 8.7 per cent.

Beach Hatchery, Monno Agro & General Machinery, Bengal Windsor Thermoplastics, and Agricultural Marketing Company were also on the top gainers' list.

The Caspi, the all-share price index of the Chittagong Stock Exchange, fell 27 points, or 0.14 per cent, to end the session at 18,434.

Among the issues, 17 rose, 60 retreated and 55 did not see any price swing. However, the turnover of the port city bourse rose 53 per cent to Tk 5.7 crore.