Turnover at Dhaka bourse declines to 5-month low

Shares listed on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) faced another major setback yesterday with the daily market turnover falling to a five-month low.

Turnover is the total value of shares changing hands on a day, giving an indication of the amount of trading activity.

It amounted to Tk 306 crore, dropping 30.42 percent from that on the previous day.

The textiles sector dominated the turnover chart, accounting for 13.61 percent.

Shares of Alif Industries were traded the most, contributing 1.3 percent to the turnover, or Tk 14 crore.

Block trades constituted 10.9 percent of the turnover.

A block trade is a large, privately negotiated securities transaction which is arranged away from public markets to lessen the effect on the security's price.

At the end of the day, the DSEX, the benchmark of the country's prime bourse, dropped 50.35 points, or 0.95 percent from that on the day before.

It finally stood at 5,228.53, the lowest in over three years.

Likewise, the DSES, the index that represents Shariah-based firms, fell 13.59 points, or 1.18 percent, to 1,138.96.

The DS30, the index that comprises the best blue-chip shares, dipped 16.79 points, or 0.89 percent, to 1,869.93.

Mutual fund, telecom and travel and leisure sectors closed in the positive while information technology, ceramics and non-bank financial institution (NBFI) in the negative.

In its market update, BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage said a negative performance was staged by most of the sectors which account for large amounts in market capitalisation.

Market capitalisation shows how much a company is worth as determined by the total market value of all outstanding shares.

The NBFI sector experienced the highest loss of 2.22 percent, followed by engineering (2.11 percent), food and allied (1.79 percent), pharmaceuticals (1.29 percent), fuel and power (0.82 percent), bank (0.16 percent) and telecommunication (0.32 percent).

BRAC Bank, Linde Bangladesh, Grameenphone, Pubali Bank, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh, Khulna Printing and Packaging, Bata Shoe Company (Bangladesh), Shahjalal Islami Bank, Midland Bank and Keya Cosmetics made gains.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals, British American Tobacco Bangladesh, Square Pharmaceuticals, Beacon Pharmaceuticals, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries, Kohinoor Chemicals, Best Holdings, Orion Pharma and Olympic Industries suffered losses.

Out of the 396 scrips that changed hands, 286 saw declines, 64 edged up and 44 did not see any price movement.

Chittagong Stock Exchange saw a similar trend as the Caspi, the main index of the port city bourse, dipped 155.79 points, or 1.02 percent, to close at 15,084.56.