Dhaka stocks back on losing streak

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FE Report
Dhaka stock prices were back on the losing streak in the week that ended Thursday after witnessing a bullish trend the previous week, but investors' participation increased.
The market went into the negative territory in the week, caused by the continued slide in prices of banking stocks, the lifeline of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), while the turnover swelled due mainly to increased participation of the investors, according to the stockbrokers.
During the week, the benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN) shed 30.34 points to end at 2622.77. The All Shares Price Index (DSI) ended at 2179.27 with a loss of 26.92 points and the DSE-20 blue chip index finished at 2069.39 with a drop of 75.14 points.
The bourse saw the highest volume of share trading for the first time, backed by power and energy, engineering and pharmaceutical issues, leading to a record turnover in the week.
"The investors ran after the shares with low paid-up capital for quick gain by releasing banking shares to avoid further losses," said a broker.
The probable slowdown in banks' earnings amidst global financial meltdown might be a cause of the concern for the investors, he added.
A capital market expert said, "Take a look at the market trend in the week, the index fell but the turnover increased, indicating that the investors poured their money on equities with low paid-up capital."
The trading might be being done concentrating on a few securities, putting the investors at risk, he added.
On Thursday, the last session of the week, the turnover at the prime bourse hit an all time high of Tk 6.48 billion for the first time.
During the week, out of 298 issues traded, 107 advanced, 158 declined, three remained unchanged and 30 were not traded.
The daily average turnover posted a rise of 8.95 per cent to Tk 5.78 billion from the previous week's Tk 5.30 billion.
The market capitalisation slightly decreased to Tk 1.01 trillion from Tk 1.02 trillion of the previous week.
Summit Power was the top turnover leader for the second consecutive week with shares worth Tk 1.72 billion traded and it accounted for about 5.95 per cent of the week's total market turnover of Tk 28.90 billion at the prime bourse.
Beximco, Titas Gas, Beximco Pharma, Summit Alliance Port Limited, Shinepukur Ceramics Limited, Eastern Housing Limited (EHL), S Alam Cold Rolled Steels Limited, BSRM Steels Limited and Jamuna Oil were the other top turnover leaders.
In the week, the top ten gainers were Beximco Synthetics, Savar Refractories, Anwar Galvanising, Safko Spinnings, Saiham Textile, Prime Textile, EHL, Peoples Insurance, Reliance Insurance and Bangladesh Online.
The top losers were Prime Bank, Gulf Foods, IFIC Bank, Dhaka Fisheries, Mercantile Bank, Uttara Bank, Monno Ceramic, Meghna Shrimp, United Leasing and BD Atuocars.
The A-category issues accounted for 80.43 per cent of the total turnover in value during the week, while B-category issues accounted for 4.21 per cent, N-category issues 11.47 per cent and Z-category issues 3.89 per cent.