Dhaka: The capital bourse today witnessed a pullback after a short recovery momentum in the previous two sessions as bargain hunters turned back to short-term profit booking, as they preferred to remain watchful of the market’s trend amid evolving political signals. DSEX, the broad index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), fell by 21.1 points to settle at 4,942 points as against 4,963 points in the previous trading session.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, despite an optimistic opening, selling pressure turned dominant in the latter half of the session that dragged market indices into negative territory again, underscoring a cautious stance among market participants. However, investor participation surged as market turnover increased by 16.6% to a Taka 5.3 billion from Taka 4.6 billion in the previous session.
On the sectoral front, Textile issues exerted the highest turnover at 14.5%, followed by Pharma at 14.1% and Engineering at 11.5%. Almost all the sectors displayed dismal returns, with Paper, IT, and Ceramic exhibiting the most negative returns on the bourse today at -1.8%, -1.5%, and -1.5% respectively, while Life Insurance, Services, and Jute exhibited positive returns at 2.4%, 0.5%, and 0.4% respectively.
Out of the 397 issues traded, 110 advanced, 223 declined, and 64 remained unchanged. The port city bourse, CSE, however, settled in a positive zone. The Selective Categories’ Index (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) advanced by 33.0 points and 53.4 points, respectively.