Stocks rebound with late hour bargain hunting
Turnover at 4.5-month low
Dhaka-Chattogram stocks attracted bargain hunters on Thursday and that helped the equity indices rebound before the last closing bell of the week.
Stockbrokers said the session started with a widespread fear of further fall and the bargain hunting helped ease it to some extent.
The day ended almost flat for the Dhaka bourse's broad-based index DSEX that closed at 6297 points. It had dropped to 6,281 in the first 40 minutes of trading on Thursday.
However, there had been a lack of confidence among investors regarding the market direction and that was why buyers were conservative in terms of how much to buy. On Thursday, the DSE turnover declined by 9% in a day and stood at Tk381 crore — lowest in the last four and a half months.
The market remained mostly downbeat, said EBL Securities in its daily market commentary, adding that some late-session buying behaviour in sector specific stocks led the prime index to remain flat by the end of the session.
"Investors remained reluctant to actively participate in the market as their buying appetite remained subdued amid concerns about the market outlook owing to the rising political tensions in the country," it added.
Life insurance, general insurance, cement, tannery, and food were the gaining sectors while jute, travel, paper, IT, services, and engineering sectors corrections.
Aramit Ltd, National Tea, and Ambee Pharma stocks were the top three gainers, while Deshbandhu Polymer, Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag, and Jute Spinners led the losers.