Investors in dejection as Bangladesh's stocks plunge. BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s stocks maintained a declining trend continuously in the last week that ended on Thursday as investors' panic-driven sales amid their lack of 'confidence'.
The week witnessed four trading sessions instead of five because of Durga Puja, a public holiday on Tuesday.
The DSEX, the broad index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), lost 127.7 points and hit 35-month low to close at 4810.21 points.
According to DSE information, the DSEX lost 1,140 points since January 24, 2019 when the index peaked at 5,950 points.
Many shaky investors 'liquidated' stocks from all sectors of the listed securities, while others adopted cautious stance in case of injecting fresh funds.
As a result, the daily average turnover of the week dropped 19.7 per cent over the daily average turnover observed in previous week.
Point to point estimate revealed that during last week, the shariah based index DSES and DS30 index lost 25 points and 51 points respectively to their previous week's indices.
Following the sharp correction, the daily average turnover observed the lowest transaction since 16th May, 2019.
The persistent bearish mood hit the investors hard and prompted many ones to go for selling offs to avoid further losses on their portfolios, according to experts.
They also said the investors preferred to adopt a wait-and-see approach because of a confidence crisis about the future market direction.
Over the week, the large cap companies having notable impact on index witnessed price correction on the premier bourse DSE.
Of the large cap companies, Grameenphone declined 3.47 per cent, British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company 3.0 per cent and United Power Generation & Distribution Company 9.09 per cent.
Of 357 issues traded, 36 advanced, 14 declined and 305 remained unchanged on the DSE.
The engineering sector dominated the turnover board capturing 20.6 per cent of the week's total turnover and posted 4.9 per cent negative return.
Top ten traded stocks captured around 31.6 per cent of the week's total turnover whereas National Tubes topped the scrip wise turnover list capturing 7.5 per cent of market turnover.
Of other most traded stocks, Square Pharmaceuticals contributed 3.7 per cent in market turnover, Summit Power 3.5 per cent, Standard Ceramic Industries 3.03 per cent and Wata Chemicals 2.74 per cent.
Among the major sectors based on market capitalisation, jute declined 7.7 per cent, engineering 4.9 per cent, fuel & power 4.0 per cent, financial institutions 3.8 per cent, and telecommunication 3.4 per cent.
The investors' activity was mostly focused on engineering sector which grabbed 20.6 per cent of the weekly turnover followed pharmaceuticals & chemicals 16.7 per cent and fuel & power 8.9 per cent
M. L. Dyeing was the top gainer with a rise of 20.17 per cent to close at BDT 28.60 each.
Al-Haj Textile Mills was the worst loser after declining 19.88 per cent to close at BDT 38.70 each.
On the other hand, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also maintained a falling trend in the last week on the same ground. Three indices such as CSE30, CSCX and CASPI lost 235 points, 222 points, and 367 points respectively on the CSE in the last week.
BBN/SSR/AD