Stocks end lower

Dhaka stocks fell on Sunday as investors tracked coronavirus stimulus package disbursement to the affected industries.

The key index recorded a third consecutive day of declines as investors pulled back from the telecom and financial stocks that have helped propel the market in the previous sessions.

The DSEX was down 33 points or 0.65 percent to 5,101, dragged lower by the banks, NBFI, life insurance, communication services and technology sectors. The DSES lost 9 points or 0.82 percent to 1,170 and blue-chip DS30 shed over 4 points or 0.24 percent to 1,794.

All the large-cap sectors posted negative performance except engineering that gained 2.71 percent, led by Walton Hi-Tech Industries.

Food and allied experienced the highest loss of 2.18 percent followed by NBFI 2.14 percent, telecommunication 1.71 percent, bank 1.34 percent, fuel and power 0.96 percent and pharmaceutical 0.63 percent.

“Yet, coronavirus stimulus is still the main driving force in the market right now and investors are tracking the implementation of the stimulus packages,” said a stock broker.

Turnover hit more than Tk 1200 crore backed by block trades that contributed 6.7 percent of the overall market turnover.

Beximco Ltd was the most traded share with a turnover of Tk 68.5 crore, making up 8.4 percent of the total turnover. It was followed by Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Republic Insurance, Walton Hi-Tech Industries, IFIC, Bangladesh National Insurance Company Ltd, Paramount Insurance and SS Steel.

Majority of stock prices closed red as out of 358 issues traded, 81 advanced, 213 declined and 64 remained unchanged.

Dominage Building Systems suffered most, plunging 9.85 percent. It saw no buyers in the day.