Stocks continue to bleed

Stock markets in Bangladesh maintained a downward trend for a third consecutive day yesterday, with the values of a majority of shares marking a significant drop.

The shares of companies like Islami Bank Bangladesh, BRAC Bank, Square Pharmaceuticals, British American Tobacco Bangladesh, Renata, Delta Insurance Company, United Commercial Bank, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, Confidence Cement and Eastern Housing suffered losses.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), edged down by 11.84 points, or 0.22 percent, from that on the previous day prior to closing at 5,323.

Likewise, the DSES, the index that represents Shariah-compliant companies, slipped by 1.65 points, or 0.14 percent, to 1,187.

Meanwhile, the DS30 index for blue-chip firms dropped by 3.01 points, or 0.15 percent, to 1,939.

Chittagong Stock Exchange saw a similar trend as the CASPI, the broad index of the port city bourse, went down by 51.01 points, or 0.34 percent, to settle at 14,961.

Shares of companies like Olympic Industries, Beacon Pharmaceuticals, Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries, Grameenphone, GPH Ispat, Prime Bank, Orion Pharma, MJL Bangladesh, Linde Bangladesh and Bangladesh Submarine Cables drew investors the most, according to LankaBangla Financial Portal.

Of the issues traded on the DSE trading floor, 142 saw a price increase, 195 a decrease and the remaining 63 did not witness any price fluctuations.

The day's turnover, which indicates the total value of shares that were traded, stood at Tk 355 crore, which was a decrease of 3.05 percent.

The banking sector dominated the turnover chart, accounting for 28.82 percent of the total.

Block trades, referring to high-volume transactions in securities that are privately negotiated and executed outside the open market, contributed another 6 percent.

BRAC Bank Limited was the most traded share, with a turnover of Tk 34.9 crore.

Paper and printing, information technology and telecom were the top three sectors that closed in the positive, according to the daily market update by UCB Stock Brokerage.

General insurance, life insurance, and services and real estate became the top three sectors to close in the negative.

In its day's market update, BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage said a mixed performance was posted by large-cap sectors, meaning those that account for large amounts in market capitalisation, which refers to the value of a company's outstanding shares.

Among these sectors, telecommunication showcased the highest gain of 0.95 percent, followed by fuel and power and engineering with gains of 0.59 percent and 0.12 percent respectively.

Other sectors suffered losses such as pharmaceuticals (0.14 percent), non-bank financial institutions (0.35 percent), food and allied (0.65 percent), and banking (1.07 percent).