Stocks close lower for 2nd day

FE Report
The stock market ended lower for the second running session Thursday amid thin participation as ongoing volatility and apparent lack of directions kept investors more cautious.
The market opened with a positive note, but could not sustain as session close. At the end of the session, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSEX) went down by 25.18 points or 0.54 per cent, closing 7-week low value of 4,635.33 points.
The other two indices also ended into the red. The DS30, comprising blue chips lost 12.08 points or 0.71 per cent to close at 1,669.67 points. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) went down by 1.06 points or 0.10 per cent to close at 1,014.09 points.
The total turnover on DSE again dipped below Tk 4.0 billion mark and amounted to Tk 3.53 billion, registering 21.6 per cent decline over the previous session's value of Tk 4.50 billion.
"The country's prime bourse - DSE observed another declining session marked by lower participation from the investors," commented International Leasing Securities, in its daily market analysis.  
"Like previous session, performance of the banking sector affected the market negatively. Performance of the financial institutions and fuel & power sectors accelerated the setback," said the International Leasing Securities.  
The investors' attention was mostly focused on fuel & power, pharmaceuticals and engineering sectors, accounted for 14.81 per cent, 12.58 per cent and 10.61 per cent of day's total turnover respectively.
Closing session of the week ended red, making DSEX to be at 4,635 points. Up to Thursday's session, DSEX lost 123 points over the last half month, said IDLC Investments.
"As the bourse continued to stay gloomy, investors continued focusing on cautious investing as well as profit booking. Mid Cap scrips, especially bank sector, took the maximum hit like previous session," the merchant bank added.
"Market cracked further on the closing day of this week weighed down by profit booking in bank, NBFI and industry heavyweights," said LankaBangla Securities.
Sectoral performance was mixed as declining stocks kept its pace with the winning stocks making the advance to decline ratio 126 to 125. Among the major sectors, bank went down to its lowest price earnings multiplier and pulled the index down this week, the stock broker added.
The gainers and losers were almost same as out of 288 issues traded, 126 advanced, 125 declined and 37 issues closed unchanged on the DSE floor.
Among the major sectors, only two sectors - telecommunications and food & allied - advanced with marginal gains of 0.08 per cent and 0.06 per cent respectively.  
All other large cap sectors closed negative especially the financial sectors - banks suffered the most with 1.08 per cent correction and NBFIs lost 0.63 per cent. Pharmaceuticals and fuel & power also lost 0.36 per cent and 0.39 per cent respectively.