DHAKA, Nov 17, 2024 (BSS) - Country's both the bourses-- Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) - today plunged as profit booking sell pressure remained prevalent across the trading floor, while cautious investors also reshuffled their portfolios in response to ongoing corporate earnings declarations for the recently ended quarter.

DSEX, the broad index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, fell by 27.0 points or 0.5 percent and settled at 5,328 points as against 5,355 points in the previous trading session. Two other indices also ended sharply lower with the DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, plunged 9.49 points to finish at 1,976.92 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) lost 6.57 points to close at 1,182.95.

Investors remained active on both sides of the trading fence, while sellers ended up on the dominant side by the end of the session. Meanwhile, market turnover also decreased by 12.2 percent to Taka 5.1 billion as against Taka 5.8 billion in the previous session since investors preferred to remain watchful of the market's momentum surrounding the earnings declaration season. 

On the sectoral front, Pharma (15.1 percent) issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by Textile (13.4 percent) and Bank (10.4 percent) sectors. 

Most of the sectors exerted mixed returns, out of which Jute (7.7 percent), Services (5.4 percent), and Life Insurance (1.3 percent) have exerted the most returns while Travel (-4.6 percent), Telecom (-1.4 percent) and Financial Institution (-1.1 percent) observed the most corrections on the bourse today. 

Out of the 397 issues traded, 148 advanced, 181 declined and 68 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse, CSE, also settled on red terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) declined by 15.6 and 20.9 points, respectively.