Turnover drops though stocks end in black

Turnover on the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges declined significantly yesterday owing to the lower participation of investors amid persisting uncertainty although the bourses ended the week in positive territory.  

One of the key indicators of the market, turnover dropped more than 18 per cent to Tk 1,216 crore on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), while the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw it slip by more than 13 per cent to Tk 87 crore. 

The DSE started on a positive note but it switched to a downward trend after half of the first trading hour as shaky investors went for profit-booking, said International Leasing Securities Ltd, a brokerage house, in its daily market review.

Some investors adopted a 'wait-and-see' stance amid rising inflation and the deepening risk of a global recession.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, was up 16 points, or 0.25 per cent, to close at 6,512.

The DSES, the shariah-based index, gained 0.30 per cent to 1,419, while the DS30, the index that consists of blue-chip companies, inched up 0.31 per cent to 2,330.

Of the securities that traded on the DSE, 94 advanced, while 85 retreated, and 186 were unchanged.

Among the sectors, paper rose 3.8 per cent, led by a surge in earnings of Bangladesh Monospool Paper Manufacturing Company Ltd and Paper Processing & Packaging Ltd.

Monospool Paper's profit jumped more than 343 per cent and Paper Processing's profit surged more than 244 per cent year-on-year in the financial year that ended on June 30, 2022.

The service sector rose by 1.1 per cent and life insurance gained by 1.1 per cent. Ceramic was down 1.6 per cent and travel and IT each dropped 0.4 per cent.

Investors' activity was mostly centred on pharmaceuticals, which accounted for 15 per cent of the day's turnover, and engineering, which represented 11.2 per cent of the turnover.

Bangladesh Export Import Company was the most-traded stock on the DSE yesterday, with its shares worth Tk 110 crore changing hands. Other issues that registered higher turnover included Orion Pharma, Eastern Housing, Bangladesh Building Systems, Shinepukur Ceramics, and MI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing.

Bangladesh Monospool Paper Manufacturing posted the sharpest increase on the day, rising 19.23 per cent. Other major advancers were Eastern Housing, Apex Footwear, IDLC Finance, and Kohinoor Chemicals Company.

BDCOM Online was the worst-performing stock, declining 7.26 per cent. Padma Islami Life Insurance slipped 5.48 per cent, IPDC Finance was down 4.45 per cent, Monno Agro & General Machinery lost 3.90 per cent, and Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream dropped 3.42 per cent.

The Caspi, the all-share index of the bourse in the port city, rose 9 points, or 0.05 per cent, to end the day at 19,189.

Of the securities, only 58 advanced, 76 went down, and 111 remained unchanged.

HOW DSE FARED IN THE WEEK

The stock market passed a gloomy week as investors showed profit-booking tendency, said the brokerage house.

The market opened with a downbeat trend on the first day of the week and fell in the following two days as well, before snapping the trend on Wednesday.

The DSEX witnessed a 51.1-point correction in the week, driven by deepening concerns over rising inflation and the growing spectre of the world falling into a recession.

Owing to the lower participation of investors, average turnover plummeted by 27.74 per cent from the previous week.