Stocks break four-week gaining spell

Stocks edged slightly lower last week that ended Thursday, breaking four-week gaining spell, as investors were cautious amid mixed corporate earnings news and concerned over monetary policy statement.
The Bangladesh Bank Thursday announced an 'accommodative' monetary policy for the first half of the current fiscal that aimed to achieve maximum economic growth.
The week witnessed five trading sessions as usual. Of them, three sessions closed lower while two sessions ended marginally higher.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), dipped below the 4,800-mark and settled the week at 4,792.31, shedding 16.09 points or 0.33 per cent.
The two other indices also closed in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 4.93 points or 0.26 per cent to end at 1,883.91. The DSE Shariah Index dropped 5.36 points or 0.45 per cent to finish at 1,189.86.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended higher with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - moved down by 5.66 points or 0.06 per cent to close the week at 8,959.59.
The total turnover for the week stood at Tk 33.83 billion, which was 67.35 per cent higher than the previous week's total turnover of Tk 20.22 billion, as last week saw five sessions instead of previous week's three.
The daily turnover for the week averaged Tk 6.77 billion, registering an increase of 0.41 per cent over the previous week's averaged Tk 6.74 billion.
The participants remained active on pharma, power and engineering - the sectors that grabbed 17.2 per cent, 17.1 per cent and 15 per cent of the week's total turnover.
"As half yearly earnings figures are hitting onto the screen, investors are carefully considering about taking positions on stocks," said LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, in its weekly analysis.
Average daily turnover was 0.41 per cent up last week, indicating cautiousness among investors last week ahead of monetary policy, said the stockbroker.
IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, said, "As the week saw a good number of corporate earnings declaration, market priced the stocks accordingly".
Certain issues failed to meet investors' expectations and index started to move sideways as sell pressure started to pile up. However, investor optimism prevailed as evidenced by buoyant turnover, said the merchant bank.
Sheltech Brokerage, said, "Most of the June end companies of fuel and power sector are waiting for their year-end declarations. Some of the fuel and power sector companies have also broken through their significant resistance level and showing signs of accumulation".
So, a price movement may ensue in fuel and power sector in the coming week, it said.
Most of the sectors witnessed price correction last week. Among the major sectors, telecommunication lost 2.2 per cent, financial institutions 1.5 per cent, fuel and power lost 0.9 per cent.
Textile posted the highest gain of 2.8 per cent while engineering gained 2.0 per cent.
The losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 325 issues traded, 157 declined, 150 advanced and 18 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
The market capitalisation of the DSE went down slightly by 0.59 per cent as it was Tk 3,390.12 billion on the opening day of the week and it stood at Tk 3,370.05 billion on closing day of the week.
Seven listed companies - Linde BD, Reckitt Benckiser, Shasha Denim, Apex Spinning, Sunlife Insurance, Navana CNG and Pragati Life Insurance recommended dividend last week.
Lafarge Surma Cement was the week's top turnover leader with shares worth above Tk 1.93 billion changing hands during the week followed by Square Pharma, KPCL, Beximco Pharma and Bexmco.
Zaheen Spinning was the week's best performer, posting a rise of 30.10 per cent while Fareast Islami Life Insurance was the week's worst loser, plunging by 19.09 per cent.
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