Stocks fail to maintain early high gains

Dhaka (Oct 20, 2020): Stocks closed the day at a lower price than it opened on Tuesday.

For example, Continental Insurance Company’s stock rose as high as Tk 62 a share, but ended at Tk 55.5 when the market closed.

The insurer was the top traded stock with Tk 36.7 crore worth of shares transacted hands on the day.

Similarly, Beximco Pharma’s stock came down to Tk 116.7 a share from Tk 119.8 at the beginning of the day.

This trend has impacted the overall index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange as DSEX closed the day at 4,917 points from 4,945 just after 35 minutes of the trading session. However, transactions were significantly higher – 16.7% -- on Tuesday than that of the previous day.

Bangladesh Lamps Limited was the top gainer with over 25 percent increase in its share price on dividend declaration. The company has recommended 10 percent cash dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2020 despite negative income due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement posted on the DSE, the company said this year it strongly focused on cash collections from aged receivables. As a result, during the reporting period ended 30th June 2020, net operating cash flow per share has been increased to Tk 14.70 from Tk 3.03 per share a year ago.

Appetite for insurance stocks, which were dominating the gainer-list for over a month, has come down as only three insurers were in the list of top 10 gainer-stocks on Tuesday.