Stocks close in the red for fourth day

Stocks declined for the fourth consecutive day due to lack of participation from retail and institutional investors.
DGEN, the benchmark General Index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, finished the day at 4,146.63 points, after dropping 14.56 points or 0.35 percent.
“Lack of sufficient investor participation is unable to lift market sentiment,” said LankaBangla Securities in its market analysis. Envoy Textile's initial public offering's lottery is likely to bring in retail money to the market, it said.
“According newspaper reports, private banks are sitting on large amounts of investable liquidity. Call money rate has gone below 8 percent,” LankaBangla Securities said.
“The day resumed on a positive vibe, gaining 54 points at the opening hour. However, sale pressure dominated the rest of the session to bring the market down,” IDLC said in its market commentary.
Turnover increased 6.45 percent overnight to Tk 242 crore, while a total of 0.71 lakh trades were executed, with 6.38 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands on the Dhaka bourse.
All major sectors except closed in the red: banks lost 1.15 percent, non-bank financial institutions 1.12 percent, power 0.66 percent and pharmaceuticals 0.29 percent.
Telecommunications, rising by 0.39 percent, was the only sector to have gained during the day.
Of the 220 issues that traded on the DSE floor, 136 advanced, 110 declined and 20 remained unchanged.
United Airways was the top traded stock of the day, with 1.08 crore shares worth Tk 23.11 crore changing hands. The company was gained the most during the day: of 9.54 percent.
Titas Gas and Jamuna Oil were the next popular stocks of the day, while Eastern Cables lost the most: of 6.27 percent.