Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s both stock markets went down for the second straight week that ended on Thursday with the turnover declining as investors remained reluctant to make fresh investments amid the ongoing political turmoil.

Week-on-week, the prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange – DSEX – went down by 43.68 points or 1.03 percent to close the week at 4,200.96 points.

The DS30 index, including blue chip stocks, also went down by 19.12 points or 1.30 percent in the week and closed at 1,447.95 points.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower for the second running week, with its Selective Categories Index – CSCX – losing 86.92 points or 1.04 percent to close the week at 8,254.00 points.

The market witnessed four trading sessions, similar to previous week as it remained closed Wednesday on the occasion of Christmas Day.

The market managed to close positive in the first session of the week while last three sessions declined amid reduced activities caused by absence of positive expectations in investors’ mind.

The market saw lower investor participation in the week. The total turnover stood at BDT 19.08 billion against BDT 20.49 billion of the previous week as this week also witnessed four trading sessions like the previous one.

On the other hand, the daily turnover averaged BDT 4.77 billion, registering a 6.86 percent decline over the previous week’s average of BDT 5.15 billion.
“The final week of 2013 ended in dismay. Looming political fear and its expected impact on national economy marred investment outlook, triggering correction in the market,” IDLC Investments, a leading merchant bank, said in its weekly market analysis.

The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 296 issues traded during the week, 190 declined, 87 advanced and 19 remained unchanged on DSE floor.

All the major sectors ended in red last week except banks as the heavyweight sector gained 0.40 percent during the week. Textile was the worst loser among the major sectors with 3.83 percent loss.

 Pharmaceuticals lost 1.83 percent followed by fuel and power with 1.26 percent, telecommunications 0.42 percent and NBFIs 0.32 percent.

The market capitalisation of the DSE went down slightly by 0.60 percent as it was BDT 2,635.03 billion on the opening day of the week and it stood at BDT 2,619.23 billion on closing day of the week.

The week observed debut of a new stock Apollo Ispat Complex. The company topped the week’s turnover chart with shares worth BDT 1.03 billion changing hands.

Massive trading in Apollo Ispat helped the engineering sector capture 17.0 per cent of the week’s total turnover. However, textile remained the turnover leader, accounting for 27.0 percent of total turnover.

Bay Leasing was the week’s top gainer, posting a rise of 24.92 percent while Samata Leather Complex was the week’s worst loser, slumping by 25.62 percent.

BBN/SSR/AD-28Dec13-1:53 pm (BST)