Dhaka stocks’ early gains fade away

Trading at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) began on a sharp positive note as the main index DSEX rose nearly 46 points just five minutes into the trade.

At 11:06 am, DSEX jumped 77 points to 6,585 and since then stocks started sliding and ended the day 18 points lower to 6,489. The gap between the highest and lowest level of points was 110.

However, even in such a situation, the amount of turnover on DSE saw a record so far this year.

Market insiders said after one hour of trading on Sunday, news spread in the market that the amount of forex reserves is falling below $38 billion. Such news created uncertainty among a section of investors.

As a result, those who were placing new buy orders in the morning also started selling. However, during this period some seasonal investors bought shares. As a result, the turnover increased.

According to central bank sources, Bangladesh's forex reserves were $39.05 billion on Thursday. Now, the Asian Clearing Union’s (ACU) import bill for the July-August period stands at $1.75 billion. The central bank is likely to pay this bill on Sunday or Monday.

On this day, the shares were overbought as soon as the trading started. As a result, both the index and the transactions started to grow at a rapid pace.

This trend continued for more than one and a half hours. At 11:06 am, the index was 78 points higher than the previous day. The main index of DSE was at 6,585 points, which was the highest position since May 11.

A six-point rise from here would have seen the index surpass its nearly five-month high, a situation from which a sudden decline began. At one stage at 1:22 pm, the index fell by 13 points from the previous day. Then the index tried to turn around from there but failed.

It finally ended trading 18 points lower than the previous day, though it was down 33 points at one stage. At the end of the day, the DSEX decreased by 0.28 percent and settled at 6,489.

Among other indices, the shariah-based DSES rose by 1.16 points or 0.08 percent and the blue-chip DS-30 was down by 2.07 points or 0.08 percent.

On September 12, 2021, such a picture was also seen in DSE. At that time, the capital market was gradually increasing. And the index increased by 78 points within an hour of the start of trading that day. From there, the index lost an incredible 124 points and eventually fell by 56 points.

But now, despite such a decline, the transaction is recorded. Shares of Tk 2,296.39 crore changed hands on Sunday, which is the highest transaction since October 7, 2021. On that day Tk 2,497.20 crore was traded.

In the current year 2022, transactions have crossed the two thousand crore mark only twice before, that too in August. On August 28 for the first time and August 31 for the second time, the transaction crossed two thousand crore taka.

Meanwhile, the overall index CASPI of the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) decreased over 74 points to 19,081, and securities worth Tk 35.91 crore were traded on the day.