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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s stocks ended lower last week that ended on Thursday as risk-averse investors sold share throughout the week amid political tension.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 81.79 points or 1.53 percent to settle the week at one-month low to 5,251.
All five trading sessions of the week went down as political tension kept most of the investors’ cautious head of national parliamentary elections.
Analysts said news of major scams in banks, soaring non-performing loans, provisioning shortfall of banks coupled with falling foreign portfolio investment eroded investor confidence.
Election sentiments are in the minds of investors and many of them have taken a cautious stance, taking the market in the red territory, said a leading broker.
Ahead of national election by the end of this month and distraught financial sector stifled investors’ confidence on capital market and ensued to sell-off, said EBL Securities.
Two other indices—the DS30 index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES)–also ended lower.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 18.71 points to finish at 1,843 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 17.41 points to close at 1,206.
Bearish sentiment also reflected on the trading activities as total turnover on the DSE amounting to BDT 25.55 billion against BDT 30.03 billion in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged BDT 5.11 billion, registering a decline of 15 percent over the previous week’s average of BDT 6.0 billion.
Sectors like pharma, textile, engineering, power, bank and miscellaneous sectors hold the position as top contributors in turnover chart.
“Fall across the banking, telecom, pharma and engineering issues triggered the market decline,” commented IDLC Securities.
The banking sector witnessed the highest correction of 2.18 percent, followed by telecom with 1.74 per cent, pharma 1.51 percent, engineering 1.41 percent and financial institutions 1.27 percent.
Of the 346 traded issues, 209 closed lower, 117 advanced and 20 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor last week.
United Power topped the week’s turnover chart with 2.43 million shares worth BDT 721 million changing hands during the week.
The other turnover leaders were Square Pharmaceuticals, JMI Syringes, Wata Chemicals and SK Trims and Industries.
Paramount Insurance Company was the week’s best performer, posting a gain of 31.69 percent while Information Services Network was the worst loser, losing 34.56 percent following the news of its ‘no’ dividend approval.
The port city bourse CSE returned to lower with its CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –losing 201 points to settle at 16,125 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –shedding 124 points to finish at 9,754.
BBN/SSR/AD