DSE turnover dips below Tk 5.0 billion-mark

Stocks ended lower for the second straight sessions Sunday amid half-day hartal with turnover dipped below Tk 5.0 billion-mark after two weeks as investors extended their meticulous strategy.
Market opened the session on a positive note, but could not sustain the momentum and trickled down to red at the end of session. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended at 4,549.52 points, shedding 28.47 points or 0.62 per cent.
The other two indices also ended in the red. The DS30, comprising blue chips lost 12.64 points or 0.82 per cent to close at 1,713.82 points. The DSE Shariah Index declined 8.75 points or 0.73 per cent to close at 1,057.37 points.
The total turnover dipped below Tk 5.0 billion and amounted to Tk 4.94 billion, registering a decline of 21.85 per cent over the previous session's value of Tk 6.32 billion.
The investors' activity was mainly focused on pharmaceuticals, engineering, textile and power - the sectors that, accounted for 17 per cent, 16 per cent, 13 per cent and 12 per cent respectively of the day's total turnover.
 "The stock market posted a negative stance amidst the investors' sluggish participation," said International Leasing Securities, in its regular market analysis.
The investors booked profit on some large cap stocks like Square Pharma, Lafarge Surma and Titas Gas. Meanwhile, price appreciation of GP and BATBC pushed their respective sector in the green zone, said the International Leasing.   
 "Market lost amid weaker participation by investors. This lower participation by investors can be attributed to nationwide strike from 6am to 2pm," said LankaBangla Securities.
Zenith Investments said: "Some major stocks which bullied the market for quite some time, was severely hammered by the profit taking activities of the investors."
Few MNCs on the other hand, showed nifty gains at the last moment, but failed to create any significant impact on the overall market, said the Zenith analysis.
"Market is revolving around selective stocks. When few stocks from those selected ones goes down due to sell pressure, rest of other stocks within the selected boundaries is fuelled by investors buying spree," the Zenith analysis added.      
"Scrip-wise swings sustained for second consecutive session, with 59 out of total traded scrips changing more than 3.0 per cent, investors extended their meticulous tone," said IDLC Investments.
Most of the sectors suffered loss. Food and allied and telecommunication closed positive with gaining 2.68 per cent and 0.54 per cent respectively.
All other large cap sectors closed lower. Pharmaceuticals and fuel and power went down by 0.38 per cent and 0.44 per cent respectively. Banks and NBFIs also lost 0.43 per cent 0.82 per cent respectively.
The losers took a lead over the gainers as out of 297 issues traded, 172 declined, 99 advanced and 26 remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
Activities decreased in the major bourse (DSE) where trade and volume were down by 29.13 per cent and 22.06 per cent respectively. A total of 0.116 million trades were executed with 118.82 million securities of trading volume.
The total market capitalisation on the DSE stood at Tk 3,030.33 billion against Tk 3,030.89 billion in the previous session.
Beximco Limited topped the turnover chart for the eight straight sessions with shares worth Tk 403.09 million changing hands followed by Beximco Pharma, MJL BD, Golden Son and BD Building.
Mozaffar Hossain Spinning Mills was the day's highest gainer, posting a rise of 7.40 per cent while the new issue Far East Knitting & Dyeing was the day's worst loser, slumping by 8.81 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - lost 74.36 points to close at 8,584.01points.
Losers beat gainers 135 to 55, with 27 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 10.50 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 351.38 million