BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s stocks closed flat last week, after remaining down in the past three weeks, as investors mostly followed cautious stance ahead of national election.
Analysts said most of investors adopted a ‘wait-and-see’ policy ahead of national election while lower than expected earnings disclosures by a number of companies’ frustrated investors.
However, lucrative price levels and positive support from state-run Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) in later part of the week helped the market to close flat, they said.
The week featured five trading days as usual. Of them, first three sessions lost nearly 54.36 points while last two sessions recovered about 55 points.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), saw a fractional gain of 0.64 point or 0.01 percent to settle the week at 5,259 points.
However, two other indices ended in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 6.36 points to close at 1,859 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 5.59 points to end at 1,210.
Total turnover, however, increased to BDT 26 billion on the DSE which was BDT 24 billion in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged BDT 5.19 billion, registering an increase of nearly 8.0 percent over the previous week’s average of BDT 4.82 billion.
International Leasing Securities said indecisiveness and lack of confidence among the investors amid rising political tension created choppy trading during the week.
However, the news that the state-run ICB resumed much-talked investment in the capital market as part of the corporation’s market supportive measure back the investors’ enthusiasm to the market.
Of the 340 traded issues, 159 closed higher, 162 ended lower and 23 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor last week.
Khulna Power Company topped the week’s turnover chart with 11.44 million shares worth BDT 1.13 billion changing hands despite three days trading of the company’s shares.
The other turnover leaders were SK Trims Industries, VFS Thread Dyeing, Intech and BBS Cables.
Saiham Textile was the week’s best performer, posting a gain of 32.78 percent while Stylecraft was the worst loser, losing 73.82 percent following its price adjustment after record date.
The port city’s bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), ended slightly lower with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI –shedding 60 points to settle at 16,101.
The Selective Categories Index - CSCX – also lost 42 points to close the week at 9,753.
BBN/SSR/AD