Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The bearish spell continued in the Bangladesh’s stock market for the four straight weeks that ended on Thursday as investors were in selling spree amid the deepening political unrest in the country.
The week featured five trading sessions as usual. Of those, three sessions saw sharp decline while two sessions closed flat in green amid no improvement in the political front.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) dipped below the ‘psychological’ threshold of 4,600-mark and ended at 4,556.94 points, shedding 107.97 points or 2.31 percent.
The two others indices also ended in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips plunged 16.53 points or 0.95 percent to close at 1,714.41 points. The DSE Shariah Index shed 7.73 points or 0.69 percent to close at 1,104.79 points.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower for the four straight weeks with its Selective Categories Index – CSCX – plunged 231.19 points or 2.66 percent to close the week at 8,435.69 points.
The activities edged up slightly last week and the total turnover amounted to BDT 14.22 billion against BDT 13.43 billion in the week before due to last two sessions increased activities.
The daily turnover for the week averaged BDT 2.84 billion, registering an increase of 5.84 percent over the previous week’s average of BDT 2.68 billion.
“The main bourse of the country, DSE, experienced panic-sell last week as prolonged turmoil in political front made the investors hopeless about any near term stability in the country,” said LankaBangla Securities, in its weekly stock market analysis.
IDLC Investments said: “Political turmoil remained the main nemesis of the equity market. As impact of the almost a quarter-long blockade on the economy started to surface in statistics and media reporting, investors got reacted frantically selling off shares in the economy”.
“The stock market ended in the negative tune in another session amidst shaky confidence from the investors,” said International Leasing Securities.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 318 issues traded, 223 declined, 70 advanced and 25 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Four listed firms – Lafarge Surma Cement, United Finance, Reliance Insurance and First Security Islami Bank declared dividend last week.
Newly listed Shasha Denims dominated the week’s top turnover chart with shares worth BDT 776.54 million changing hands followed by Shahjibazar Power, IFAD Autos, Lafarge Surma Cement and GP.
Anwar Galvanizing was the week’s top gainer, posting a rise of 23.60 percent while IDLC Finance was the week’s worst loser, plunging by 28.21 percent following its price adjustment after record date last week.
BBN/SSR/AD-13Mar15-12:20 pm (BST)
