Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-Bangladesh’s stocks fell for the two consecutive weeks that ended on Thursday as investors were cautious amid lack of clear market direction.
The week featured five trading sessions as usual and all trading sessions of the week ended in the red.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) dipped below the ‘psychological’ threshold of 4,600-mark and settled the week at 4,573.59, slumping by 84.36 points or 1.81 per cent.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 21.87 points or 1.25 per cent to finish at 1,729.16 points.
The DSE Shariah Index dropped 14.69 points or 1.31 per cent to close at 1,102.70 points.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) ended lower with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, falling 88.11 points or 1.06 per cent to end at 8,566.28 points.
The total turnover for the week also came down to BDT 21.52 billion which was BDT 29.41 billion in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged BDT 4.30 billion, which was nearly 27 per cent lower than the previous week’s average of BDT 5.88 billion.
“Selling frenzy prevailed in the market to avoid further losses. Lack of confidence regarding the capital market outlook also accelerated the sell pressure in the market,” said a stockbroker.
“Continuing the downward trend of the previous week, the benchmark broke the support at 4,600-level and reached to a new support at 4,570-level,” said LankBangla Securities, a stockbroker, in its weekly analysis.
IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, said, “The investors preferred micro cap stocks over the cap classes, reallocating their capital to the smallest of cap classes”.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 328 issues traded, 195 closed lower, 106 higher and 27 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor during the week.
Alltex Industries dominated the week’s turnover chart with shares worth BDT 702 million changing hands followed by Emerald Oil, IT Consultants, Saif Powertec and Al-Arafa Islami Bank.
Eastern Lubricants was the best performer for the two straight weeks, posting a rise of 45.18 per cent while Shurwid Industries was the week’s worst loser, slumping by 34.48 per cent.
BBN/SK/AD