Stocks start new year with marginal losses
The benchmark index DSEX of the Dhaka bourse fell 3.62 points to close at 6,242
Equity indices at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) kicked off the new year in the red terrain, as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines because of an uncertain market outlook with the national election knocking at the door.
DSEX, the board-based index of the DSE, slipped three points and closed at 6,243 on the first day of 2024, compared to the previous session. Shariah index DSES and blue-chip DS30 each dropped two points to close at 1,361 and 2,092 respectively.
The market witnessed mild intraday volatility as investors were active on both sides of the trading fence, while sellers ended up on the dominant side by the end of the session owing to shaky confidence regarding the market momentum, according to the daily market commentary by EBL Securities.
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Meanwhile, the persistently subdued investment appetite caused the DSE turnover to fall by 32.8% to Tk443.8 crore on Monday, the commentary reads.
Out of all the issues traded, 80 advanced, 86 declined, and 168 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
On the sectoral front, general insurance contributed the highest 21.1% to the day's turnover, followed by engineering sector adding 12.8%, and mutual funds adding 12.2%.
Most of the sectors witnessed price corrections. However, general insurance posted the highest sectoral gain of 3.4%, jute gained 2.6%, mutual funds 1.7%, and the IT sector gained 0.5%.
On the other hand, the travel sector faced the most correction of 2%, followed by paper losing 0.9%, and ceramic losing 0.7%.
Bangladesh (BD) Thai Aluminium was the most traded stock, IFIL Islamic Mutual Fund-1 the top gainer, and Imam Button the top loser on the DSE on Monday.
