DSE turnover drops 28%

Turnover, one of the major indicators of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), dropped 28% to Tk705.06 crore at the end of the trading session on Thursday.

The key index, DSEX, also fell 0.29% or 15 points to 5,108 amid investors' selling pressure to book a quick profit.

Also, the blue-chip index, DS30, fell 0.41% and the Shariah index, DSES, lost 0.45% on the day.

Corrections in average securities were evident as 186 lost price against gains of 92, while the prices of 77 securities remained unchanged.

On an average, the engineering and jute stocks registered 3.30% and 2.45% gains in market capitalisation respectively, while service, life insurance and cement sectors generated positive returns of less than 1%.

Telecommunication, ceramic, food and miscellaneous sectors faced price correction.

Most multinational companies lost share price among which Grameenphone took a big hit as its share price plunged 3.02%.

Grameenphone shares tumbled following the news that the police filed a case against the telecom operator under the Telecommunication Act, on charges of providing personal and confidential information of its customers to others who use these for blackmailing them.

On the other hand, National Polymer secured the first position on the top ten gainers' list.

On 15 December, the securities regulator approved the right share offer of National Polymer at Tk15 each, including a premium of Tk5.

Turnover on Thursday was mostly the contribution of general insurance, pharmaceuticals, and engineering stocks.

The stock market has been in a rally for the last three weeks, with the DSEX coming up to 5,147 points from below 4,800 points.

Market building moves from the regulator, such as quality initial public offering approvals, bond trading, and disciplinary actions enticed investors' participation, while improvements of the country's economic activities boosted much-needed confidence in the capital market, said the analysts of EBL Securities Ltd.