BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s stocks registered a moderate correction, breaking a three-week winning spell, as risk-averse investors opted for booking profits on sector-wise stocks.
Market insiders said investors mostly preferred to pocket profit especially from cement, textile, non-bank financial institutions, engineering, pharmaceuticals, banks and food & allied sectors, which contributed to fall of indices.
The week witnessed only three trading sessions instead of five as the market closed on Monday and Tuesday due to public holidays on the occasion of Janmashtami and National Mourning Day respectively. Of them first session closed higher while last two faced correction.
The benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), which replaced the DGEN in four-and-a-half-year back, went down by 40.69 points or 0.69 percent to settle at 5,861 points.
Two other indices also faced major correction. The DS30 index and the DSE fell 16.62 points or 0.78 percent to settle at 2,109 points.
The Shariah Index (DSES) lost 10.36 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 1,304 points.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also finished lower with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, losing 61 points or 0.54 per cent to settle at 11,002 points.
The bearish sentiment also reflected on turnover activity. The total turnover for the week came down to BDT 24.46 billion, registering a decline of 50 percent on premier bourse against BDT 48.79 billion in the week before, as last week saw only three trading sessions.
The daily turnover averaged at BDT 8.15 billion, which was more than 16 percent lower than the previous week’s average of BDT 9.75 billion.
According to City Bank Capital Resources, this correction was triggered by slow participation and pursuance of profit booking by the investors, made some selling pressure on market.
“Stocks slipped into the red, snapping a three-week winning streak amid choppy trading throughout the week as the cautious investors went on selling spree,” commented International Leasing Securities.
The stockbroker noted that quick profit booking tendency of the investors pushed down the benchmark index to below 5,900 points mark after hitting its record high in the week before, the stockbroker said.
Most of the major sectors posted negative return. The non-bank financial institutions witnessed the highest correction of 0.82 percent, followed by engineering with 0.64 percent, pharmaceuticals 0.61 percent, banks 0.11 percent and food & allied 0.09 percent.
Telecommunication posted the highest gain of 2.87 percent, followed by fuel & power with 0.05 percent.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 334 traded issues, 230 declined, 90 advanced and 14 remained unchanged on the DSE.
The newly listed BBS Cables topped the week’s turnover chart with shares of BDT 1.40 billion changing hands, closely followed by IFIC Bank, Uttara Bank, IFAD Autos and C&A Textiles.
BBS Cables was the week’s highest gainer, posting 19.45 percent gain, while Sunlife Insurance was the worst loser, losing 12.45 percent.
BBN/SSR/SR