Agency

The country's bourses ended lower Wednesday, driven by sell-offs. Investors continued to bet on power, bank and non-bank financial institution majors but sold off shares of pharmaceuticals and chemicals, according to an official with brokerage house Latif Securities. Mutual funds closed mixed, added the official.

Turnover on Dhaka and Chittagong bourses also fell from the previous day. The trading volume recorded an increase. Market watchers termed the day's trading satisfactory and said that investors were engaged in mixed buying and selling.

"Investors are not opting for specific issues but went for a mixed portfolio of buying and selling which is a good sign," DSE vice-president Ahmad Rashid Lali told bdnews24.com.

He added that the liquidity crisis led investors to take a cautious stand. The DGEN or general index rose on the opening bell until the first three hours before maintaining a downward curve afterwards to lose 17.14 points or 0.55 percent to close at 3079.09.

The DSI or all-share price index ended on 2600.71, falling 11.93 points or 0.45 percent from the previous day. The bourse's blue chip, DSE-20, finished 2.57 points, or 0.10 percent lower at 2371.21. Turnover slipped to Tk 2.69 billion from Tuesday's Tk 2.73 billion, with 20,074,657 shares changing hands.

Of the traded issues, 94 gained and 138 lost with 12 issues holding steady. AB Bank topped the turnover board and advanced 0.44 percent to Tk 4307.

AIMS 1st Mutual Fund followed and ended on Tk 13.44, down 2.18 percent following Tuesday's gains. Union Capital rose on buying pressure to close 7.25 percent higher at Tk 93.10 while IFIC Bank ended 1.93 percent lower on Tk 2971.50. Profit-taking led pharmaceuticals major ACI to erode the previous day's gains.

It finished 0.24 percent lower at Tk 282.20. Among the other scrips on the turnover board, Square Pharma, Keya Cosmetics and Beximco Pharmaceuticals after investors locked in profits. UCBL and Lanka Bangla Finance rose on buying pressure.

Indices on the Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended lower, influenced by huge losses in textile, printing and insurance shares. The CSCX or selective categories index fell 28.13 or 0.50 percent to 5566 points while the CASPI or all-share price index ended on 8619, losing 37.75 points or 0.43 percent.

The CSE-30 blue-chip index crept down 2.38 points or 0.03 percent to 7570.04. Turnover on the port city's bourse edged down to Tk 339.21 million from the 3,595,947 traded shares—from Tk 359.11 million the previous day