Stocks retreat as late selling wipes out early gains

The country’s stock market on Wednesday ended lower as strong selling pressure in the final trading hour erased early gains amid persistent policy uncertainties and renewed tensions in the Middle East, dampening investor sentiment.

The benchmark DSEX index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) fell 27.9 points to close at 5,871, down from the previous session’s 5,899.

The market opened on a positive note, with the DSEX briefly reclaiming the 5,900-point level during mid-session.

However, broad-based selling across most sectors in the final hour reversed the upward momentum, dragging the benchmark into negative territory by the close.

Despite the decline, market turnover rose 7.2 percent to Tk 1210cr from Tk 1120cr in the previous session, indicating sustained trading activity.

Textile stocks accounted for the largest share of turnover at 16.6 per cent, followed by pharmaceuticals (14.3 per cent) and mutual funds (8.0 per cent).

Sectoral performance remained mixed.
Mutual funds posted the highest gain of 3.8 percent, followed by telecommunications (0.9 percent) and food (0.4 percent).

On the downside, general insurance declined 2.4 percent, travel and leisure fell 1.4 percent, while life insurance lost 1.3 percent.

Out of the 396 issues traded on the DSE, 98 advanced, 243 declined and 55 remained unchanged.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed lower, with the CSCX index falling 19.1 points and the CASPI index losing 20.1 points.