Biz-Econ

Stocks fall on lower demand

Share prices fell across the board on Sunday when demand side was weaker to match the high sell pressure.Majority of the traded securities at both Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (DSE) closed lower that also brought the share price indices to the red zone, seizing the rising trend that was prevailing at the market in the past three straight sessions.The broader DSEX index at the premier bourse DSE lost over 23 points to finish the day at 5158.69. The blue-chip DS30 and Shariah DSES also plunged to end at 1860.56 and 1218.60 accordingly.Out of the day`s 326 issues traded, 211 incurred low to moderate level of loss when 89 securities advanced marginally.Market analysts attributed the price fall to the lower demand as most of the investors were trying to book profit from selling the shares they bought earlier at lower prices. The demand side, however, was not strong enough to match the supply, resulting in fall of shares prices and the daily transactions as well.Some analysts saw the fall as a result of correction phase that the twin bourses went through during the week`s opening session after significant rise in share prices in the past few days.The daily trade value at DSE fell by 13.68 percent to Taka 1075.12 crore from last week`s close of Taka 1245.94 crore. The trade volume also declined by 17.68 percent to 32.21 crore shares from Thursday`s 39.13 crore shares.Real-estate, IT and miscellaneous were the day`s major lagging sectors while jute, paper and printing and non-banking financial institutions were major advancing sectors.The day`s major gainers were ICB, Rangpur Foundry, Northern Jute, Hakkani Pulp and Far East Knitting.The major losers included Samata Leather, EBLNRBMF, Shurwid Industries, First Finance and YPL.Beximco topped the turnover leaders followed by Peninsula, RSRM Steel, Ifad Autos and BBS.Like DSE all the share price indicators at CSE ended lower when the general CASPI index of the port-city bourse lost nearly 110 points to close at 15829.01.Out of the day`s 263 traded issues, 187 incurred loss and 59 gained when around 20 lakh shares changed hands for Taka 58.96 crore.Source: BSS