Dhaka bourse turnover hits 7-month high

The daily turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) reached a seven-month high on Sunday – the first trading session after the budget for the fiscal 2023-24 was proposed.

Thanks to the block market transactions on the day which made up more than 15% of the day's total turnover.

Compared to the previous trading session, the DSE turnover increased by 26% and reached Tk1,254 crore. Of the amount, Tk196 crore came from block transactions.

A block market is where the securities are traded directly among the buyers and sellers outside of the open market.

DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), inched up by 0.17% to 6,366 on Sunday, compared to the previous trading session.

According to the daily market commentary of EBL Securities, DSEX started the week upbeat as investors showed buying appetite for sector-specific issues.

"In Sunday's trade, the market witnessed a volatile session as investors were active on both sides of the trading fence. Cautious investors preferred to remain watchful of the market momentum following the national budget declaration."

In spite of the sell pressure before noon, the market started to recover from the dip as opportunist investors continued their chase for selective scrips, causing the core index to stay afloat by the end of the session, the review added.

Life insurance stocks contributed the highest 18.4% to the day's turnover, followed by IT and bank stocks adding 12.2% and 9.8% in that order.

The sectors displayed mixed returns with IT, life insurance, and jute gaining the most 3.4%, 2.6% and 1.4% respectively. On the other hand, travel, general insurance, and paper sectors witnessed the highest corrections of 1.1%, 0.9% and 0.8% respectively.

Out of the 392 issues traded, 77 advanced, 100 declined and 215 remained unchanged at the DSE.