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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh’s stocks ended marginally lower last week that ended on Thursday as investors continued their selling spree amid ongoing earnings and dividend declarations.

Brokers said some investors preferred to take cautious approach while some other continued selling shares, especially telecommunication, ceramic, power, banks and financial institutions.

“The investors still lack confidence which is prompting them to book quick-gain rather than taking a long-term position,” said a leading broker.

The week featured five trading sessions as usual. Of them, first two sessions edged higher while last three ended lower.

DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 32.25 points or 0.60 percent to settle at 5,305 points.

“Selling of shares mostly from telecom, power, financial institutions and pharma sector stocks contributed to fall of indices,” said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.

The telecommunication sector posted the highest loss of 3.80 percent, followed by power with 1.60 percent, financial institutions with 1.50 percent and pharma 1.40 percent.

The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also fell 15 points to finish at 1,900 points. The DSE Shariah index lost 1.33 points to end at 1,265.

According to International Leasing Securities, the investors mainly liquidated their holding from telecom, ceramic, fuel & power, financial institution and pharmaceutical sectors.

The stockbroker noted that some of the large cap stocks have failed to meet investors’ expectation in the latest financial disclosure, which has contributed to the fall in the indices.

However, some expectant investors took position in the IT, service and cement sectors’ stock anticipating better performance in the year-end financial disclosure, it said.

Turnover, another indicator of the market, amounted to BDT 45 billion over the previous week’s BDT 44 billion.
The daily turnover averaged BDT 8.91 billion, which was 1.45 percent lower than the previous week’s average of BDT 8.78 billion.

Of the traded issues, 125 closed lower, 197 ended higher and 20 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
BBS Cables was the week’s most traded stock with 16.26 million shares worth BDT 1.71 billion changing hands, followed by KDS Accessories, Ifad Autos, Nahee Aluminum and The Peninsula chittagong.

Padma Islami Life Insurance was the week’s best performer, posting a gain of 3.67 percent last week while Jute Spinners was the worst loser, losing 29 percent.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended marginally lower with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – losing 71 points to settle at 16,473.

The Selective Categories Index – CSCX – also fell 39 points to close at 9,909.

BBN/SSR/SR