DSE turnover falls by 38%

A day after setting the highest record in a decade, turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) fell by 38% on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, the benchmark index of the country's premier bourse gained 0.54%.

Investor participation stood low as selling pressure in the early session showed a gloomy approach on the bourse which led many to adopt a sideline approach, said the daily market review by EBL Securities.

Turnover on the DSE came down to Tk1,577.46 crore, which was Tk2,546.82 crore on the previous day – the highest in a decade.

However, DSEX, the main index of the DSE, saw a gain of 30.48 points to reach 5,640 at the end of Wednesday's trading session.

In the early session, the market saw volatility, but in the end it made a turnaround from the ground, riding on institutional investors. 

Port city bourse Chattogram Stock Exchange's (CSE) main index CASPI rose by 0.23% or 38 points to reach 16,294.

Several investors said they could not trade on time because of software problems at the DSE.

The pharmaceutical sector led the turnover chart with the contribution of 13.63% of total turnover on the DSE, while the bank sector's contribution was 13.60%.

Beximco Limited and Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited secured the top two positions, respectively, on the turnover chart. 

Meanwhile, the bank and non-bank financial sector observed momentum owing to year-end dividends and corporate declarations which led the index towards positive territory at the end of the session

Investors saw the highest returns of 3% from the non-bank financial institution sector, followed by the cement and telecom sectors.

AFC Agro secured first position among the top 10 gainers at the DSE. Its share price rose by 9.94% to Tk18.8 each. Meanwhile, Robi, Fuwang Ceramic and GBB Power were also in the top 10. 

The DSE sent a query letter to Robi, GBB Power and Fuwang Ceramic for the unusual price hike, but the companies replied that there was no price sensitive disclosure.

The performance of several sectors waned. General insurance (2.5%), mutual funds (2.4%), services (1.3%), and engineering (1.2%) yielded the most negative returns.

Eight insurance companies – Nitol Insurance, Peoples Insurance, Takaful Insurance, Islami Insurance, Global Insurance, Northern Insurance, Republic Insurance, and Padma Life Insurance – were the top 10 losers.

Some investors said these companies' share prices had increased in the last few months and that is why traders sold the shares to book profits.

Green Delta Mutual Fund topped the list of losers. Its share prices fell by 8.51% to Tk8.6 each.

Out of the 361 issues traded at the DSE, 120 advanced, 171 declined and 70 remained unchanged.