Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) experienced a downward trend in the week that ended on Thursday after a moderate gain in the previous week, market operators said.
The share price movement was a bit slow as the investors took a cautious approach eying some upcoming initial public offerings (IPOs) and the holy month of Ramadan, they added.
The benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN) lost 50.22 points or 1.66 percent to end at 2,977.72. The broader All Shares Price Index (DSI) shed 44.84 points or 1.76 percent to close at 2,501.71. The DSE-20 blue chip index tumbled 82.37 points or 3.76 percent to finish at 2,108.74.
The market was tilted towards the decliners as out of 301 issues, 65 went into the black, 176 into the red and 60 were not traded.
The daily average turnover in the week was down by 20.31 per cent to stand at BDT 5.80 billion from the previous week's BDT 7.28 billion, according to the DSE statistics.
The stocks of mutual funds increased by 3.91 percent in the week. This sector enjoys a quota of 10 percent in every initial public offering (IPO), so the investors respond positively to this sector as is reflected in their average daily turnover.
For the banking sector, which is the bellwether of the stock market, the month of August proved quite bearish as the turnover was lower than the usual average.
Except these two, almost all other sectors saw a decline in value during the week.
In the tannery sector, Bata Shoe and Apex Adelchi were the most dominant. Both the companies had their half-yearly results in hand. Although they just equaled the previous year's profit, their revenue is going to be much higher in the remaining half as both the major religious festivals of the Muslims will be observed during that period.
In the week, Summit Alliance Port Ltd, a leading off-dock service provider, was the top turnover leader with shares worth Tk 1.64 billion traded, accounting for 5.62 per cent of the total turnover.
The next other turnover leaders were Beximco Ltd, Bextex, Aftab Automobiles, Summit Power, EBL First Mutual Fund, and ICB AMCL 2nd NRB Mutual Fund.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-29August09-2:26 pm (BST)