Stocks rise for third day

Stocks in Dhaka bourse maintained an upward trend for the third consecutive day yesterday amid a surge in Covid-29 cases.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), rose 6 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 7,023 at the end of the day.

At the DSE, 166 stocks advanced, 172 fell and 42 remained the same.

The stocks opened marginally higher amid volatile trading as investors put fresh funds on stocks cautiously amid ongoing quarterly earnings declarations, said International Leasing Securities in its daily market review.

At the middle of the session, the stocks dipped below the 7,000 mark but ended above that level with a modest gain of 6.76 points in the broad index. In the meantime, DS30, the blue-chip index, and DSES, the Shariah-based index, reported a 0.43 points loss and a 0.26 points gain respectively.

Among the sectors, bank, IT and paper and printing sectors achieved the highest price appreciations whereas ceramic, life insurance and services and real estate sectors witnessed the highest price corrections. Investors' activity was mostly concentrated on engineering (16.7 per cent), miscellaneous (10.3 per cent) and pharmaceuticals (9.5 per cent) sectors.

Stocks of Beximco were traded the most, worth Tk 85 crore, followed by Bangladesh Building Systems, Union Bank, Fortune Shoes and British American Tobacco Bangladesh.

Nahee Aluminum topped the gainers' list, soared 9.59 per cent, followed by Union Insurance, BD Thai Food, Kattali Textiles and Prime Insurance.

RAK Ceramics shed the most, dropping 6.45 per cent, followed by Fareast Life Insurance, Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company, Prime Islami Life Insurance and Ring Shine Textiles.

Turnover of the DSE slightly dropped to Tk 1,261 crore, which was Tk 1,266 crore on the previous day.