Stocks extend losses for 7th day

The market moved between negative and positive throughout the entire session amid narrow band, making intraday volatility 20 points. The benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, saw a fractional loss of 0.6 points to 4,534. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, lost only over 4 points to 1,736. The DSE Shariah Index, DSES, inched around 2 points down to 1,101. However, the Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX rose over 2 points to 8,475. Trading activities continued to shrink ahead of Eid ul-Azha as the DSE turnover stood at Tk410 crore, down 12% over the previous session. IT sector was the worst loser, shedding more than 2%. Jute came second with a drop of around 2%, followed by mutual funds, and paper & printing. Bank, telecommunications, ceramics, tannery and pharmaceuticals closed marginally lower. On the other hand, general insurance sector shone on the day, gaining over 4%. Most other sectors, including power, cement, engineering, non-banking financial institutions and food & allied, ended marginally higher. Of the total 323 companies traded, 148 ended up and 126 down while 49 remained unchanged. MJL was the most-traded share for the fourth straight day with a turnover worth around Tk15 crore. It was followed by National Tubes, BSRM Limited, FAR Chemical, Shahjibazar Power Company Limited and Al-haj Textile. Savar Refractory was the biggest loser falling over 9%, followed by Modern Dyeing (8.5%), Samata Leather Complex (6%), Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills (4.4%), Kohinoor Chemical Chemicals Company (4.4%), Hakkani Pulp and Paper (4.4%) and Mithun Knitting (3.7%). FAR Chemical was the best performer rising about 10%, followed by Mercantile Insurance (9.8%), Continental Insurance (9.3%), Agrani Insurance (8.3%), Global Insurance (8%), Northern Insurance (7.3%) and Federal Insurance (7%).