Stocks swing down

 

Dhaka stocks finished lower yesterday, despite a bullish start.

After going up more than 60 points, the key index swayed several times until it closed down 87 points, or 1.5 percent, due to selling pressure on Dhaka Stock Exchange. At the end of the four-hour trading session, the benchmark index slumped to 5,817 points.

Insiders said the trading pattern in the post-budget days showed that investors remained sceptical that the market was not a safe place to invest in.

For three days of trade after the budget announced by Finance Minister AMA Muhith, the market went through big swings -- up and down -- with a big fall on Sunday.

“Mixed feelings among investors made investment difficult,” Green Delta Securities Limited said in its daily market analysis.

There were only 28 gainers on the trading board, while 219 securities declined and four remained unchanged on the premier bourse.

Turnover was slightly greater than the previous day and stood at Tk 606 crore on a transaction of more than 7.46 crore shares and mutual fund units.

Although the banking stocks lost 0.89 percent on average, the bellwether sector accounted over 40 percent of the turnover value.

The non-banking financial institutions lost 2.46 percent on average, while the fuel and power sector declined 1.51 percent, and Grameenphone that represents the telecom sector fell 1.94 percent.

The stocks in Chittagong also slid yesterday, with the Selective Categories Index of the port city bourse declining 143 points, or 1.35 percent, to 10,408.

Losers beat advancers 155 to 28, with six securities remaining unchanged on the Chittagong Stock Exchange that traded more than 1.38 crore shares and mutual fund units on a value of Tk 88.87 crore.