Losing jinx extended further

Stocks extended their losing streak for the fourth session in a row Wednesday amid thin trading as investors continued to remain watchful in the current political crisis.
The market opened with a positive note, but failed to sustain as the session progressed. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) went down by 14.25 points or 0.30 per cent to close at 4,681.53 points. DSEX lost around 82 points in the last four consecutive sessions.
The two other indices also ended in red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips lost 11.26 points or 0.64 per cent to close at 1,737.72 points. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) shed 4.07 points or 0.36 per cent to close at 1,111.10 points.
Turnover on DSE remained sluggish and amounted to Tk 2.22 billion against Tk 2.21 billion in the previous session.
The investors' attention was mostly focused on power, bank and engineering - the sectors that accounted for 15.7 per cent, 14.3 per cent and 12.3 per cent of the day's total turnover respectively.
"The market sustained its bearish tune for the fourth running sessions amid the deepening of countrywide political unrest," said International Leasing Securities in an analysis.
The market turnover remained poor as the investors remained shaky about the market outlook and their confidence continued to deteriorate, said the International Leasing.
LankaBangla Securities said: "Market extended loss amid choppy trading Wednesday. As fear-casting political event has left the city dwellers breathless at this moment, we have seen its impact on capital market".
"Selling pressure continued to fade out the possible positive impact of corporate declarations of financial stocks," said the stock broker.
IDLC Investments said: "Slow bleeding in the market continued causing painful erosion in investors' capital. Resultantly, chronic depression eclipsed market sentiment turning participants reluctant to take further moves".
With market contrary trend and enthusiasm in Shahjibazar Power, fuel and power sector led the turnover chart, followed by bank, for anticipation over ongoing corporate declarations, the merchant bank said.
Meanwhile, few of the major sectors netted a positive position after the day's trading, the merchant bank added.
Among the major sectors cement registered a gain of 1.63 per cent, the highest gain of the session. Telecommunication went up marginally by 0.60 per cent and power closed flat in green with 0.06 per cent gain.
Banks and NBFIs closed in red, losing 0.66 per cent and 1.0 per cent respectively. Pharmaceuticals lost 0.68 per cent and food and allied closed 0.23 per cent lower.
The gainers, however, took a modest lead over the losers as out of 308 issues traded, 156 advanced, 104 decline and 48 remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
Activities mixed in the major bourse where volume was up by 0.12 per cent, but trade was down 4.98 per cent. A total number of 0.063 million trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 53.31 million securities.
The market capitalisation on DSE stood at Tk 3,173.92 billion against Tk 3,183.67 billion in the previous session.
Shahzibazar Power Company was the most traded stock with shares worth Tk 155.30 million changing hands followed by Lafarge Surma Cement, GP, Summit Alliance Port and SIBL.
Libra Infusion was the day's top gainer, posting a rise of 8.61 per cent while Trust Bank was the worst loser, plunging by 5.43 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), however, closed in mixed with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - gained 1.10 points to close at 8,722.99 points.
Gainers beat losers 107 to 89, with 32 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 6.12 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 227.49 million.
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