Dhaka stocks witnessed a slight increase on Wednesday after falling in the previous three sessions, as bargain hunters went for low-priced scrips, market operators said.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, increased by 10.94 points, or 0.20 per cent, to close at 5,280.47 points on the day, after losing 60.71 points in the previous session.
The DSE had 144.12 points in the previous three sessions.
The DSE returned to its regular trading hours, from 10.00am to 2.20pm, on Wednesday after operating in shortened schedules in the previous five sessions from July 24-30, in line with the relaxation of the ongoing curfew.
Market operators said that the country鈥檚 economy was already in a bad situation, and the recent deadly unrests centring the quota reform movement dampened the investors鈥� mood.
They said that the picture of the current trading on the Dhaka bourse was reflecting the overall economic situation of the country.
Moreover, the market is not allowed to move at its own pace due to the circuit breaker, which discourages investors to participate in trading, they said.
The total turnover of the Dhaka bourse increased slightly on Wednesday to Tk聽470.58 crore from Tk聽432.69 crore in the previous session.
Of the 397 issues traded on Wednesday, 171 advanced, 163 declined and 63 remained unchanged.
The DSE Shariah index increased by 2.42 points, or 0.21 per cent, to close at 1,153.97 points on the day.
The DS30 index gained 4.33 points, or 0.23 per cent, to finish at 1,886.18 points.
On the sectoral front, pharmaceutical issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by the food and bank shares.
EBL Securities in its daily commentary said, 鈥楾he market extended its dominant selling pressure till the first half of Wednesday鈥檚 session as nervy investors continued to trim their exposure to capital market investments to escape further losses in their portfolios.鈥�
鈥楬owever, the market resisted the selling dominance as bargain hunters regained control, driving the benchmark index to close in positive territory by the end of the session,鈥� it said.
Techno Drugs topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk 23.51 crore changing hands.
Alif Industries, Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa, Square Pharmaceuticals, Agni Systems, NRB Bank, Orion Infusion, Pragati Life Insurance and Salvo Chemical Industry were the other turnover leaders.