Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The losing streak of the country’s stock market continued last week for the second straight week as investors went on a selling spree, fearing turmoil on the political front, market operators said.
The week witnessed five trading sessions as usual and the market gained only in one trading session while it went down in the four other sessions.
Week-on-week, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) prime index-DSEX-dropped by 64.93 points or 1.62 percent to close at 3,948.44 points below the psychological level of 4,000 points.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips also lost 22.38 points or 1.53 percent to close at 1,441.93 points in the week.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower with its Selective Category Index losing 116.71 points or 1.49 percent to close at 7,721.71 points.
The DSE saw a significantly lower trading volume in the week as the total turnover further dropped to BDT 13.96 billion against the previous week's total value of BDT 20.32 billion.
The daily average turnover value came down to BDT 2.79 billion, registering 31.3 percent decline over the previous week's average value of BDT 4.06 billion.
"Fear of turmoil on the political front and investors' preference to naturalise short-term return ahead of Eid-ul-Azha streamlined the week's market sentiment," said the IDLC Investments in its weekly market analysis.
In the meantime, cautious trading amid a turnaround situation alongside the shaky confidence of investors kept the market in an indecisive mood, said the merchant bank.
Additionally, investors' scrip-wise focus and the back and forth movement left the market volatile throughout the week, the merchant bank said.
Meanwhile, some fundamentally strong shares sparked rallies, which were short-lived, as some astute investors were tempted by the attractive price, they added.
Investors participated most in textile and pharmaceutical sectors, accounting for 19.86 percent and 10.49 percent of the total turnover in the week.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 295 issues traded on the DSE during the week, 196 declined, 86 advanced and 13 remained unchanged.
The week saw all major sectors go down except telecommunications which gained 0.32 percent.
The non-banking financial institution (NBFI) sector was the biggest loser as it went down by 2.30 percent, followed by the pharmaceutical sector with 2.17 percent and fuel and power 1.28 percent. Banks lost the least with 0.63 percent.
The market capitalization of the DSE went down by 1.05 percent as it was BDT 2,557.31 billion on the opening day of the week. It stood at BDT 2,530.43 billion at close of the week.
The Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company became the week's turnover leader with shares worth BDT 622.19 million changing hands followed by Square Pharma, Argon Denim, CMC Kamal and Delta Life Insurance.
The LG Global Mutual Fund One was the week's top gainer, posting an increase of 30 per cent while Monno Stafflers was the week's worst loser as its price slumped by 25.33 percent.
BBN/SSR/AD-05Oct13-10:15 am (BST)