Stocks rise marginally after 3-day fall

Major indexes of the stock markets in Bangladesh rose marginally yesterday, snapping a three-day losing streak, as investors cautiously traded shares amidst intense political and economic uncertainties.

Recent news over the downgrading of the country's sovereign rating by Moody's and the banking sector's non-performing loans reaching record highs further heightened apprehensions among investors.

As a result, the market witnessed a thin participation of the investors, who cautiously traded on selective shares to pocket short-term gains amidst price fluctuations.

Both the bourses of Dhaka and Chattogram witnessed massive sales requests as the investment climate has remained unresponsive amidst the downward trend.

The DSEX, the broad index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the country's premier bourse, went up by 2.60 points, or 0.05 percent, from that on the previous day before closing at 5,245.

The other two indices of the DSE experienced a mixed performance.

The DSES, the Shariah-based index, rose by 8.59 points, or 0.74 percent, to 1,162.

However, the DS30 index for the blue-chip firms fell by 8.26 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,934.

At Chittagong Stock Exchange, the CSE All-Share Price Index (CASPI) saw a similar falling trend as the prime index of the port city bourse edged down by 18.93 points, or 0.13 percent, to settle at 14,672.

Out of the 379 scrips that changed hands at the DSE, 113 saw a rise in prices, 183 closed lower and the remaining 83 did not see any price movement.

Turnover, which measures the cumulative value of the shares traded, decreased by 23.65 percent at the DSE to stand at Tk 393 crore.

The banking sector dominated the turnover chart, accounting for 17.14 percent of the total.

Block trades, meaning high-volume transactions in securities that are privately negotiated and executed outside the open market, contributed another 4.8 percent.

Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream PLC emerged as the most traded share, with a turnover of Tk 13.4 crore.

Sector-wise, non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), banking and telecom were the top three to close in the positive, according to the daily market update by UCB Stock Brokerage.

Jute, general insurance and food and allied became the top three to close in the negative.

Large-cap sectors, which comprising companies with high market capitalisation, which refers to the value of their outstanding shares, posted a mixed performance, according to BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage.

The NBFI experienced the largest gain of 5.23 percent, followed by banking (0.63 percent), telecommunication (0.46 percent) and pharmaceuticals (0.02 percent).

However, engineering suffered a loss of 0.24 percent, followed by fuel and power (0.59 percent), and food & allied (2.31 percent).

LankaBangla Financial Portal said investors were largely interested in Islami Bank Bangladesh, Square Pharmaceuticals, Grameenphone, Beacon Pharmaceuticals, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, Shahjalal Islami Bank, DBH Finance, Fine Foods, Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream and Prime Bank.

However, shares of BAT Bangladesh, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Paramount Textiles BRAC Bank, Olympic Industries, IFIC Bank, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Delta Life Insurance, ADN Telecom and Navana Pharma suffered losses.