DSEX ends green despite last-hour sell pressure

Infographic: TBS

The Dhaka Stock Exchange's key index, DSEX, ended in positive territory today, gaining 6 points in the second trading session of the week, despite heavy last-hour sell-offs that trimmed much of the day's earlier gains.

Although all three indices managed to end in the green, market turnover declined by around 3% to Tk706.32 crore, while most traded stocks witnessed price declines due to sell-offs, according to the DSE.

Today (15 September), the first working day of the week, stocks witnessed heavy sell-offs with DSEX dragging down by 55 points. 

At the beginning of today's trading session, stocks opened on a positive note, and the upward momentum of the indices continued until 12:45 pm, with the DSEX gaining 44 points.

However, sharp sell-offs followed, erasing much of the early gains, and the market finally managed to close with the DSEX up by 6 points to settle at 5,474 points.

While DSE's shariah index ended almost flat with a gain below one point to 1,186 points, and DS30, the blue-chip index ended gaining 5.99 points to 2,135 points. 
Of the traded stocks, 117 scrips saw price surges, 199 declined, and 86 remained unchanged, the DSE data showed.

Despite the decline in most stock prices, market capitalisation — the current market value of all outstanding shares — surged by Tk2,146 crore to Tk7.24 lakh crore.

EBL Securities, in its daily market commentary, said the premier bourse of the country endured another volatile session as cautious investors awaited a catalyst to revive the market's upbeat momentum, while moderate gains in select large-cap stocks kept the indices afloat. 

The market experienced seesaw trading throughout the session, with selling pressure dominating major sectors for consecutive days as investors mostly adopted a wait-and-see approach in view of the weakening market trend, it reads.

On the sectoral front, pharmaceutical stocks exerted the highest by 16.5% in total turnover, followed by the banking sector by 11.4% and the engineering sector by 11.2% sectors. 

Rupali Bank led the top gainer list with 9.95% gain of its shares to Tk24.3 each, followed by Midland Bank with 9.89% to Tk20 each, Asiatic Laboratories 7.82% to 63.4 each, Shyampur Sugar Mills with 7.66% to Tk202.2 each and Fareast Finance with 7.14% to Tk1.5 each.

While Prime Finance led the loser list as its share price declined by 7.14% to Tk2.6 each, followed by Premier Leasing with 5.55% decline to Tk1.7 each, Tamijuddin Textile with 5.33% to Tk154.5 each, Monno Fabrics with 5.26% to Tk19.8 each and Global Islami Bank with 4.76% to Tk2 each.

The Port City Bourse, CSE, also settled on green terrain. The Selective Categories' Index (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) slightly advanced by 8.0 points and 6.7 points, respectively.