Dhaka, Jan 8, 2008: Dhaka stocks fell Monday, driven by heavy sell-offs. Bank, power and pharmaceuticals scrips ruled the turnover board.

The market continued to see investors sell off their holdings for cash to invest in imminent shares of state-run enterprises Jamuna Oil and Meghna Petroleum, analysts said. Jamuna Oil Company will be launched on the capital market on Jan 9 and Meghna Petroleum Ltd on Jan 14.

"Investors are selling their shares to gather cash for shares of Jamuna and Meghna," said AIMS of Bangladesh CEO Yaweer Sayeed.

The benchmark DGEN or general index was down 6.46 points or 0.22 percent to end at 2922.86.
The DSI or all share price index closed at 2463.05, down 5.05 points or 0.20 percent, while the blue chip DSE-20 closed 1.17 points or 0.04 percent down at 2399.50.

Turnover fell to Tk 743.962 million from Sunday's Tk 1.1 billion, with 3,097,205 shares traded.

Losers beat gainers 126 to 80, with 19 issues holding steady.

IFIC Bank emerged at the top of the turnover board, continued to rise from Sunday ending at Tk 2628.50, up 0.31 percent.

AB Bank second in turnover after IFIC edged down 0.01 percent, closing at Tk 2672.75.
UCBL rose 1.54 percent to end at Tk 4202.25, after declining the previous day. BRAC Bank, one of the most active shares, edged up 0.25 percent to Tk 1566.25 after losing on Sunday.

Pharmaceuticals bigwig, Square Pharma, gained after falling for the last two days. It closed at Tk 3520.50, up 0.60 percent.

Among the other scrips on the top ten turnover board, Prime Bank, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh, DESCO, Summit Power and Trust Bank fell. Bionic Sea Food, M Hossain Garments, Delta Spinners, Bangladesh Luggage and Gachihata Aquaculture led the gainers. Sandhani Insurance, Eastern Lubricants, BD Autocars, Dutch Bangla Bank and 5th ICB Mutual Fund were among the major losers.

All the indices on the Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended down. Miscellaneous, services & property and textile sectors advanced while food & allied, ICT and mutual funds declined.

The CSCX or selective categories index fell 9.95 points or 0.20 percent to end at 4763.82.
The CASPI or all share price index closed at 7432.50, down 13.37 points or 0.17 percent.

The CSE-30 blue chip fell 7.51 points or 0.11 percent to close at Tk 6729.84.

Turnover on the port city's bourse declined to Tk 103.158 million from Tk 161.526 million the previous day, with only 656,136 shares traded.

Of the 103 traded issues, 35 advanced, 58 declined and 10 remained unchanged.

@ The Bangladesh Journal