Stocks break four-week gaining spell on profit booking

Stocks witnessed moderate correction last week that ended Thursday, snapping a four-week winning spell, as cautious investors opted for booking profits on quick-gaining stocks.
Dealers said the investors sold shares to bag profits on stocks that saw substantial gains in the past few weeks, while some followed cautious stance ahead of Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) and ongoing earnings declaration session, taking the market in the red zone.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) is set to announce the MPS for the first half of the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18 on July 26.
"Ongoing earnings session also made many investors cautious to put fresh stake in stocks as few large-cap companies disclosed some negative earnings," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
He noted that retail investors went for booking profit, especially from fuel & power, bank, pharmaceuticals and financial institutions sectors, which triggered a selling pressure in the market.

The week witnessed five trading sessions as usual. Of them, the core index of the prime bourse lost 69.12 points in three sessions while remaining two sessions recovered 16.73 points.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), which replaced the DGEN in four-and-a-half-year back, went down by 52.39 points or 0.90 per cent to settle at 5,782.
City Bank Capital Resources, a merchant bank, said, "The correction was triggered by slow participation and pursuance of profit booking by the investors, creating some selling pressure on market".
The merchant bank noted that this profit booking sentiment also pushed the market to dips below 5,800 points mark. The bearish sentiment also reflected on turnover activity as the weekly average turnover fell 10.40 per cent week-on-week.
The two other indices -- the DS30 index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) - also followed the suit to close at 2,121 and 1,314 points, after shedding 9.37 points and 13.30 points respectively.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also finished lower with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, losing 95 points or 0.87 per cent to settle at 10,844 points.
"Few of the large-cap listed companies have disclosed some negative earnings which increased sell pressure in the market last week," commented LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, in its weekly market analysis.
The total turnover for the week fell to nearly Tk 51 billion on major bourse which was Tk 57 billion in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged at Tk 10.79 billion, which was 10.40 per cent lower than the previous week's average of Tk 11.33 billion.
Block transaction contributed 1.9 per cent to the total weekly turnover, where issues like GP, RAK Ceramics, Rahima Food, Olympic Industries, and Delta Life Insurance dominated the block trade board.
Textile sector kept dominance in turnover chart, capturing 15 per cent of the week's total turnover, followed by engineering 14.8 per cent and fuel & power 13 per cent.
International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, said, "Stocks slipped into the red snapping a four-week winning streak as some investors sold shares while some adopted 'wait-and-see' approach".
The market faced mild correction in the week as the investors preferred to book quick-gain on their investment over the recent price surge while some were refraining from making fresh investment ahead of the announcement of Monetary Policy Statement for July-December of 2017 in next week.
The total market cap of the DSE also fell 0.45 per cent last week as it was Tk 3,919 billion on the opening day of the week, while came down to Tk 3,901 billion on closing day of the week.
Two life insurers - National Life Insurance and Rupali Life Insurance - recommended dividend last week. National Life recommended 20 per cent cash and 15 per cent stock dividend while Rupali Life recommended 10 per cent cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2016.
IFAD Autos topped the week's turnover chart with shares of Tk 2.49 billion changing hands, followed by Confidence Cement with Tk 2.06 billion, Doreen Power Tk 1.73 billion, Keya Cosmetics Tk 1.50 billion and Shahjibazar Power Tk 1.17 billion.
Confidence Cement was the week's highest gainer, posting 9.72 per cent gain, while BD Welding was the worst loser, losing 17.62 per cent.
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