After two days of positive trend, the country’s twin bourses ended the week in red on Thursday with political situation suddenly getting gloomy from earlier signs of possible compromise. Market analysts observed that the UN Assistant Secretary General’s hectic parley with political leaders for compromise has now believed to have failed in reaching any agreement between the two major political alliances that might have an impact on the trading at the two bourses. The 3rd round of blockade, which began on Saturday and to be ended Friday morning, has been taking heavy toll on the country’s overall trade and business as it was marked by scores of violent incidents and killing. The political situation took a more violent turn Thursday following the Supreme Court’s rejection of war crimes convict Jamaat-e-Islami leader Kader Mollah’s appeal for review of his death sentence on charges of killing and arson during the liberation war in 1971. Against such a backdrop, the share price index at both Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) began with a sharp negative trend today (Thursday) and ended the last session of the week with loss. The volume of trade in terms of value and number was lower at both the bourses on the day than on Wednesday. The DSE benchmark index, DSEX lost 34.20 points or 0.78 percent to reach 4299.58 at the close of the trading today (Thursday). Of the 290 issues traded, 88 gained, 178 declined and 24 remained unchanged. Most of the traded issues of the day included those from food and beverage, chemicals, insurance and different sectors. Shares worth Tk 563.65 crore changed hands at the DSE on the day against Tk 715.95 crore on Wednesday. The day’s top 10 losers at the DSE were Rahima Food, Fine Foods, Key & Que, Hakkani Publishers, Meghna Condensed Milk, Daffodil Computer, Anwar Galvanizing, Sino Bangla, Libra Infusion, and Salvo Chemicals. The CSE key index, CSCX gained 74.52 points to reach 8436.13 at the close today. Of the 223 issues traded, 46 advanced, 162 suffered loss and 15 remained unchanged. The value of the traded issues was Tk 70.07 crore on the day against Tk 93.29 crore on Wednesday. Earlier, in the morning, the DSEX lost 3.33 points or 0.07 percent to reach 4330.45 at 11:20 am while the CSCX lost 29.57 points to stand at 8481.07, also at 11:20 am today. – UNB
