Dhaka stocks advanced on Monday after a fall in the previous five sessions, as a section of investors went for low-priced scrips on positive expectation before the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission鈥檚 meeting with stakeholders, market operators said.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, increased by 21.15 points, or 0.37 per cent, to close at 5,674.86 points on the day after losing 32.97 points in the previous trading session.
The key index posted its lowest in the previous session after May 9, 2021 when it was at 5,645.69 points. It lost a total of 210.37 points in the previous five trading sessions.
Market operators said that Tuesday鈥檚 indices started with a jump and stayed upbeat almost the full session.
The indices saw a slight fall at the last hour of the session, but ultimately finished in the positive trajectory, they said.
In the past nine weeks, the Dhaka bourse witnessed decrease in the indices in a total of eight weeks, while gaining only in the one week before Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals of the Muslims, which was celebrated in the country on April 11.
Market operators said that rising interest rates in banks might have prompted investors to shift their funds to the sector.
They also said that multiple other factors were working behind the bearish trend of stocks, such as lack of investor confidence amid economic woes in the country and global geopolitical tensions, liquidity crisis in banks and sudden change of policies.
The participation of the investors increased on Monday, as the turnover on the DSE saw an increase to Tk聽574.92 crore on the day compared with that of Tk聽478.23 crore in the previous trading session.
Of the 396 issues traded on the day, 224 advanced, 112 declined and 60 remained unchanged.
On the sectoral front, pharmaceutical issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by bank and food stocks.
EBL Securities in its daily market commentary said, 鈥楥autious investors remained observant in the absence of any major catalysts to counter the prevailing pessimism pervading the trading floor.鈥�
The DSE Shariah index increased by 4.54 points, or 0.36 per cent, to close at 1,243.09 points on Monday.
The DS30 index gained by 1.47 points, or 0.07 per cent, to finish at 1,983.91 points.
Asiatic Laboratories topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk聽33.42 crore changing hands.
Beacon Pharmaceuticals, Orion Infusion, Golden Son, Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, Alif Industries, Best Holdings, Prime Finance First Mutual Fund, Fu Wang Food and Fu-Wang Ceramic Industries were the other turnover leaders.
