Stocks extend losing spell for third day

Stocks extended their losing streak for the third consecutive sessions Monday amid falling turnover as investors remained cautious in absence of clear market direction.
The market started with a negative note which sustained throughout session amid volatility. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down further by 28.72 points or 0.59 per cent to settle at 4,815.64.
The two other indices also closed in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, dropped 12.26 points or 0.65 per cent to finish at 1,869.31. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) fell 4.63 points or 0.38 per cent to end at 1,189.01.
Turnover remained relatively weak and the total turnover amounted to Tk 6.60 billion, which was 1.93 per cent lower than the previous session's Tk 6.73 billion.
The participants remained active on the engineering, power and pharma - the sectors that accounted for 23 per cent, 16 per cent and 15 per cent of the day's total turnover.
"Market trimmed some more gain of previous week. Since market struggled to sustain above the resistance level 4,850, selling pressure continued to outpace the buying pressure," said LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, in an analysis.
IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, said, "Fearing correction in coming days, investors transfer their risk into safer alternatives like cash. Especially, large-cap multinational companies that rallied recently observed profit booking trades in day's session".
MTB Capital Ltd, a merchant bank, said, "Stocks slipped into the red zone for the consecutive three days with sluggish turnover as investors remained busy in picking marginal profit".
"Investors' indecisive mindset and preference for short-term trading to book quick gain has extended the losing streak for another session," said International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, in an analysis.
Price correction in the bank, fuel and power and pharma sectors mostly fueled the plunge in indices, said the stockbroker.
All the large-cap sectors closed lower except cement which gained 1.25 per cent. Banks lost 0.82 per cent, the highest in the session followed by power 0.70 per cent. NBFIs retraced 0.57 per cent.
Pharmaceuticals and telecommunications lost 0.49 per cent and 0.35 per cent respectively. Food and allied experienced a thin correction of 0.12 per cent.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 320 issues traded, 185 closed lower, 81 higher and 54 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Activities decreased in the major bourse where trade was down 5.20 per cent, but volume was up 1.59 per cent. A total number of 0.148 million trades were executed with trading volume of 153.63 million securities.
The market capitalisation on DSE stood at Tk 3,381.72 billion against Tk 3,396.05 billion in the previous trading session.
United Power Generation and Distribution Company remained the day's top turnover leader with shares of Tk 303 million changing hands followed by FAR Chemical, Lafarge Surma Cement, Appollo Ispat and SPCL.
Northern Jute Manufacturing Company was the day's best performer, posting a rise of 8.74 per cent while Dulamia Cotton was the day's worst loser, plunging by 7.79 per cent.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed lower with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - lost 52.21 points to end at 9,007.62.
Losers beat gainers 170 to 68, with 25 issues remained unchanged on the port city bourse that traded 13.18 million shares and mutual fund units with a value of Tk 532 million.
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