Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s stocks returned to the red last week that ended on Thursday, after remaining upbeat in the past three weeks, as investors were cautious throughout the week amid ongoing earnings session.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank (BB) last week unveiled ‘cautiously accommodative’ monetary policy statement (MPS) for the July-December period of 2016, targeting higher economic growth, but lower inflation.
The week witnessed five trading sessions as usual. Of them, three sessions posted marginal fall, while two edged higher.
DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 15.52 points or 0.34 percent to finish the week at 4,538.26 points over the previous week.
The two other indices also edged lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 7.78 points or 0.44 percent to settle at 1,771.51 points.
The DSE Shariah Index also dropped 3.07 points or 0.28 percent to close at 1,111.18 points.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also finished slightly lower with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, falling 28.87 points or 0.34 percent to settle at 8,499.26.
The total turnover for the week stood at BDT 19.63 billion, which was 18 percent lower than the previous week’s BDT 23.94 billion as last week saw five trading sessions compared to the previous week’s six.
The daily turnover averaged BDT 3.93 billion, registering a decline of 1.60 percent over the previous week’s average of BDT 3.99 billion.
Brokers said, “Earnings disclosures driven trades were also in the market throughout the week as the listed companies started to release quarterly earnings results”.
LankaBangla Securities, said, stocks ended with moderate loss in benchmark index, after the Bangladesh Bank’s announced cautiously accommodative monetary policy for first half of fiscal year 2017.
“The stocks observed a downbeat trend last week as the investors’ participation was shaky amid lack of clear market direction,” said International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, in an analysis.
The losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 328 issues traded, 178 closed lower, 122 closed higher and 28 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor last the week.
GrameenPhone (GP) dominated the week’s turnover chart with shares worth BDT 866 million changing hands, followed by Bangladesh Steel Re-rolling Mills, ACME Laboratories, Delta Brac Housing Finance and Square Pharmaceuticals.
Renwick Jajneswar was the week’s best performer for the second week in a row, posting a gain of 50.24 percent, while BD Thai Aluminium was the worst loser, slumping by 31.21 percent.
BBN/SSR/BB