The indexes of stock market in Bangladesh fell yesterday after rising the previous day, largely due to poor performance of Islami Bank Bangladesh as well as large-cap and blue-chip stocks amid trading pressures.

Large-cap stocks refer to stocks that represent a significant portion of the market capitalization, that is, the value of a company’s outstanding shares.

Blue chips refer to companies that are nationally or internationally recognized, well established and financially strong.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), fell 35.06 points, or 0.66 percent, from the previous day to close at 5,298.

The DSES, the index that represents sharia-based businesses, edged down 12.29 points, or 1.03 percent, to 1,183.

The DS30 index of blue-chip companies lost 7.35 points, or 0.37 percent, to 1,970.

Islami Bank Bangladesh is solely responsible for the loss of 19.90 points in the DSE.

LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, Beacon Pharmaceuticals, BRAC Bank, National Bank, Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries, United Commercial Bank, Pubali Bank and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation all suffered losses.

However, Square Pharmaceuticals, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, MJL Bangladesh, BAT Bangladesh, Grameenphone, Olympic Industries, Shahjalal Islami Bank, Meghna Petroleum, Sea Pearl Beach Resort and Spa and BSRM Steels have managed to attract investors.

None of the companies saw double-digit growth.

Square and Beximco, the country’s two largest drugmakers, together recorded a 7-point gain.

Of the issues that changed hands on the DSE, 136 saw a price increase, while 216 closed lower and the remaining 48 saw no price fluctuations.

Turnover, which indicates the total value of shares traded, stood at Tk 578 crore on the DSE, an increase of 0.19 percent from the previous day’s trading session.

The pharmaceutical sector dominates the ranking, accounting for 19.19 percent of total revenue.

Another 5.6 percent was recorded by block trades, which refer to high-volume transactions in privately traded securities executed outside the open market, according to BRAC EPL’s daily market update Stock Brokerage.

Meghna Petroleum became the most traded stock, with a turnover of Tk 25.6 crore.

At the sector level, general insurance, life insurance as well as food and related sectors became the top three sectors that closed positively, UCB Stock Brokerage said in its daily market report.

Jute, cement and engineering sectors were the top three sectors to close negative.

Large-cap sectors showed a mixed performance, with food and allied sectors recording the highest gain of 0.79 per cent.

Next come telecommunications (0.52%) and fuels and electricity (0.07%).

However, some recorded losses, such as pharmaceuticals (0.08 percent), banks (1.61 percent), non-bank financial institutions (1.61 percent) and engineering (2.10 percent).