Dhaka stocks bearish as investors watchful

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FE Report
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) witnessed a downward trend in the week that ended Thursday after remaining steady in the previous week amid limited participation of the investors shaken by multiple negative factors.
During the week the benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN), the All Shares Price Index (DSI) and the DSE-20 blue chip index shed 69.91 points, 55.73 points and 65.82 points to close at 2615.92, 2193.44 and 2161.99 respectively.
The loan margin ratio raised by the securities regulator to 1:1.5 from the existing 1:1 has failed to stimulate the market as the investors continued to stay on the sidelines maintaining caution, according to the stockbrokers.
Share prices of the majority issues dropped during the week. Out of 291 issues traded, 34 advanced, 196 declined, four remained unchanged and 57 were not traded in the week.
The daily average turnover in the week registered 9.82 per cent drop to Tk 1.88 billion against the previous week's Tk 2.09 billion. The DSE market capitalisation fell to Tk 959.09 billion from Tk 965.53 billion of the previous week.
The market already shaken by a protracted bearish spell was affected in the last session of the week as the investors were worried over the uncertainty shrouding holding of the next national polls.
An official of a merchant bank said the outflow of funds continued. He cited a dozen of negative reasons behind the market's current erratic behaviour.
The market is weighed down by some negative factors, including the coming Eid-ul-Azha, the financial institutions' year-end book-closures and the imminent national election, he added.
He, however, said the market has the potential to rise as the dusts on the political front have begun to settle down with the expression of the BNP-led four-party alliance's intention to participate in the election.
The ACI Formulations Limited and Shinepukur Ceramics Limited made debut at the bourse Tuesday, the third session of the week, under direct listing regulations.
Beximco Pharma continued to hold the turnover leader position with shares worth Tk 1.05 billion traded and accounted for about 11.25 per cent of the week's total market turnover at the prime bourse of the country.
Uttara Bank, Beximco Limited, ACI Limited, Titas Gas, GrameenS2 Mutual Fund, Dutch-Bangla Bank, Lankabangla Finance Company, BRAC Bank and Square Pharma were the next other turnover leaders.
In the week, Fine Foods Limited, a Z-category issue, was the top gainer posting 43.09 per cent rise, followed by 1st BSRS with 14.48 per cent, Uttara Bank 10.13 per cent, Aziz Pipe 9.14 per cent, 2nd ICB 7.97 per cent, 8th ICB 7.25 per cent, Social Investment Bank 5.59 per cent, Samata Leather 5.42 per cent, Trust Bank 4.63 per cent and Bangas 4.54 per cent.
Beximco Limited, Mona Food, Meghna Shrimp, Gachihata Aquaculture, Janata Insurance, ICB, Wonderland Toys, Padma Printers, Takaful Islami Insurance Limited, Bangladesh Luggage, and Maq Enterprise were the week's top losers.
The A-category issues accounted for 82.65 per cent of the total turnover in value during the week, while the B-category issues accounted for 0.89 per cent, N-category 9.80 per cent and Z-category 3.66 per cent.