DSE Turnover falls 17% to Tk1,156 crore
Bangladesh’s stock market extended its pullback for a second straight session on Wednesday as investors locked in recent gains in blue-chip shares, while a 17 per cent drop in turnover pointed to waning buying interest after the market’s recent rally.
The benchmark DSEX index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange fell 11 points, or 0.2 per cent, to close at 5,770.
The market opened lower as selling pressure emerged in large-cap stocks. Selective buying in low-cap and momentum-driven shares helped trim intraday losses, but failed to reverse the decline as profit-taking persisted in heavyweight counters.
Trading activity slowed sharply. Turnover dropped 16.7 per cent to Tk1,156.10 crore from Tk1,388 crore in the previous session. The number of trades fell 12.1 per cent to 2,78,569, while traded volume declined 10.7 per cent to 40.40 crore shares from 45.20 crore, suggesting investors turned more cautious after recent gains.
Losers outnumbered gainers, with 187 stocks falling, 145 advancing and 64 remaining unchanged among the 396 issues traded.
Textiles dominated trading, accounting for 21.0 per cent of total turnover, followed by general insurance at 9.6 per cent and engineering at 8.8 per cent.
Sector performance was mixed. Travel and leisure led the gainers with a 2.8 per cent rise, followed by information technology gaining 2.1 per cent and textiles 1.4 per cent.
Financial institutions posted the steepest decline, losing 1.3 per cent, followed by cement industry’s 1.1 per cent and banks’ 0.9 per cent fall.
Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa was the session’s top performer, rising 10 per cent, ahead of Genex Infosys, which gained 9.89 per cent, and Emerald Oil Industries, up 9.62 per cent.
Intech Limited suffered the biggest loss, falling 9.77 per cent, while People’s Leasing and Fareast Finance each declined 7.69 per cent.
Malek Spinning Mills led the turnover chart with shares worth Tk34.77 crore changing hands, followed by BRAC Bank with Tk30.30 crore, Sea Pearl Beach Resort with Tk28.75 crore, Dominage Steel Building Systems with Tk26.63 crore and IPDC Finance with Tk26.40 crore.
