All indices of bourses fall amid persisting uncertainty

All indices of the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges fell yesterday as uncertainty at home and abroad shows no sign of abating.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 16 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 6,206.

The DS30, the blue-chip index, decreased 0.23 per cent to 2,218 while the DSES, the shariah-compliant index, went down 0.24 per cent to 1,352.

Turnover, a key indicator of the market, edged down 6 per cent to Tk 328 crore.  Of the securities, 17 advanced, 82 declined and 213 did not show any price movement.

The market started the day with sales pressure and it continued till the end without any sign of reversal. The investors were busy liquidating their holdings in the IT, services, life insurance, and jute sectors, pushing the DSEX down, said International Leasing Securities Ltd in its daily market analysis.

Of the sectors, IT was down 1.4 per cent, life insurance slipped 1.2 per cent, services and real estate and jute declined 1.1 per cent.

Investors' activities were mainly focused on the IT sector, capturing 14.3 per cent of the day's total turnover. The food and allied sector accounted for 13.1 per cent of the turnover and the travel and leisure sector made up 11.8 per cent of the turnover.

Legacy Footwear made the highest gain with an increase of 8 per cent.

Rangpur Dairy & Food Products, Emerald Oil Industries, Al-Haj Textile Mills, and Monno Agro & General Machinery were among the top gainers.

Bengal Windsor Thermoplastics was the biggest loser, shedding 7.4 per cent.

Imam Button Industries, Rupali Life Insurance Company, Dhaka Insurance, and Union Capital were also among the significant losers.

Eastern Housing was the most-traded stock with its issues worth Tk 19 crore transacting.

Genex Infosys, Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa, Rangpur Dairy & Food Products, and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation registered significant turnover as well.

The Caspi, the all-share price index of the Chittagong Stock Exchange, dropped 32 points, or 0.17 per cent, to close at 18,349. Four other indexes were in the red as well.

Of the securities, 18 rose, 43 retreated and 63 did not see any price swing. Turnover in the bourse of the port city plummeted more than 35 per cent to Tk 7.97 crore.