Stocks edge higher

Stocks edged higher on Thursday as late profit booking wiped off most of the early gains.

The market began positively in the morning, gaining around 44 points within first two hours, but late profit booking sale pressure offsets most of the early gains.

DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 8.89 points or 0.18 per cent to 4,694.95.

The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, saw a fractional gain of 0.90 point or 0.05 per cent to 1,761.10. However, The DSE Shariah Index dropped 3.76 points or 0.33 per cent to close at 1,118.94.

Turnover value came down to Tk 6.92 billion, which was 6.98 per cent lower than the previous session’s five months’ high turnover of Tk 7.44 billion.

The gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 325 issues traded, 168 closed higher, 135 lower and 22 issues remained unchanged on the primer bourse.

United Power Generation & Distribution Company dominated the turnover chart for the seven running sessions with 1.34 million shares worth Tk 220 million changing hands followed by Golden Son, BD Thai Aluminium, City Bank and IT Consultants.

Tallu Spinning was the day’s best performer, posting a rise of 9.94 per cent following its category change news while Miracle Industries was the worst loser, plunging 5.08 per cent.

The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also inched higher with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, advancing 2.90 points to finish at 8,737.82.

Gainers beat losers as 121 issues advanced, 112 declined and 29 remained unchanged on the CSE.

The port city bourse traded 20.72 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 503 million in turnover. -FE