Banking shares weigh down major index

Stocks finished slightly lower Sunday, extending the losing spell for the third day in a row, as investors went on late hours selling spree, mainly banking stocks.
Market operators said the market edged down as investors continued to sell banking shares while some were busy rebalancing their portfolios based on the quarterly earnings and year-end dividend declarations.
"The market correction continued for three consecutive sessions led by mainly banking stocks," commented AT Capital Partners, in its regular market analysis.
"Lower than expected dividend declarations by most of the banks prompted many investors to sell banking shares," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
Sixteen, out of 30 listed banks, declared lower dividends for 2017 than that of the previous year. Only five banks declared higher dividends and seven declared similar dividends while two other no dividends in 2017.
Meanwhile, the securities' regulator finally gave the green light to the proposal from a Chinese consortium to become the Dhaka bourse's strategic partner Thursday. But, the news failed to revive the capital market on first trading day after the approval.
The market opened on positive note and the key index gained about 30 points within first 30 minutes of trading, but rest of the session fell steadily, finally DSEX fell 4.41 points while the CSE All Share Price Index lost 25 points at closing.
DSEX, the key index of the DSE, settled at 5,692, losing 4.41 points or 0.08 per cent over the previous session.
DSEX shed more than 119 points within three consecutive trading sessions.
According to International Leasing Securities, the market faced mild correction as the risk-averse investors continued their selling spree, while some were busy reshuffling their portfolios based on the quarterly earnings and year-end dividend declarations.
The stockbroker noted that the market started on optimistic note, but the profit booking tendency of risk-averse investors in bank, cement and miscellaneous sectors pushed down the indices.
"Optimistic investors took position on textile, life insurance, and engineering and food sectors' stocks based on the last quarter performance," the stockbroker said.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also fell 8.45 points or 0.39 per cent to finish at 2,120. However, the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) advanced 1.03 points or 0.08 per cent to close at 1,320.
The trading activities increased as total turnover on the DSE stood at Tk 5.13 billion, which was 8.23 per cent higher than the previous day's Tk 4.41 billion.
"The market opened higher, but morning buoyancy did not sustain as investors triggered late hour selling pressure," commented EBL Securities, in an analysis.
The large-cap sectors showed mixed performance. The heavyweight banking sector witnessed the highest loss of 1.13 per cent, followed by cement with 0.90 per cent, telecommunication 0.10 per cent and pharmaceuticals 0.06 per cent.
The engineering sector posted the highest gain of 0.91 per cent, followed by food & allied with 0.49 per cent, power 0.42 per cent and non-bank financial institutions 0.19 per cent.
The gainers, however, took a modest lead over the losers as out of 336 issues traded, 175 closed higher, 125 ended lower and 36 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 332 million changing hands, closely followed by BBS Cables, Western Marine Shipyard, United Power and BRAC Bank.
Shepherd Industries was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent while Al-Arafah Islami Bank was the day's worst loser, losing 10.62 per cent following its price adjustment after record date.
The port city's bourse CSE also closed marginally lower with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI - losing 25 points to settle at 17,570 and Selective Categories Index - CSCX -shedding 15 points to finish at 10,624.
The gainers beat the losers as 128 issues closed higher, 83 ended lower and 24 remained unchanged.
The port city bourse traded 8.91 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 226 million in turnover.

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