Stocks extend losses for sixth week despite institutional support

Stocks extended the losing streak for the sixth week to Thursday although the institutions stepped up to support the market from the front to revive investor confidence.
This week, the market saw four trading days as Sunday was a public holiday on the occasion of the 104th birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
As the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) continued with bearish trend, the first two days of the week suffered big losses but the remaining two days pared most losses, driven by institutional buying.
The benchmark DSEX index finally settled 26.38 points or 0.44 per cent lower at 5,941.66. The DSEX has lost a cumulative 433 points in the last six straight weeks.
Top index draggers were Renata, BAT Bangladesh, Beximco Pharma, Beacon Pharma and Robi Axiata as they jointly accounted for more than 23 points of the weekly index fall.
Bears have gripped the market since the withdrawal of 'floor prices' from the largest and second largest stocks in terms of market-cap -- Grameephone and BAT -- while lifting of 'floor price' for another large-cap company, Robi Axiata, last week exacerbated the market condition.
Concerned over the prolonged market fall, the DSE Brokers Association of Bangladesh held meetings with the top brokers and stock market regulator.
The DBA leaders believe the present market fall was a natural consequence of the withdrawal of 'floor price' restrictions and the market would recover soon.
Following this development, majority of shares saw a sharp rebound in the last two days of the week as smart investors came out of the sidelines to snap up low-priced stocks.
The high-net worth investors also injected fresh funds into the market while forced sales saw a pause, contributing to the market recovery, said a leading broker.
However, overall market sentiment is yet to rebound since there is no major trigger for the market to bounce back, said the stockbroker.
According to EBL Securities, stocks showed recovery signs in the last two sessions of the week as investors found a sign of relief with positive expectations from the DBA's meeting regarding the current state of the stock market.
The DS30 index, which consists of blue-chip companies, however, rose 6 points to 2,057, as some blue-chip stocks saw price application.
Investor participation in the market continued its declining trend as total turnover stood at Tk 19.85 billion this week as against Tk 27.94 billion in the week before.
Accordingly, the average daily turnover stood at Tk 4.96 billion, which was 11 per cent lower than the previous week's average of Tk 5.59 billion.
Losers took a moderate lead over the gainers, as out of 395 issues traded, 229 saw price correction, 133 witnessed price appreciation and 33 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Investors were mostly active in the engineering sector, accounting for 18.3 per cent of the week's total turnover, followed by pharmaceuticals (17.7 per cent) and food (10.9 per cent).
Most sectors suffered losses with the food sector saw the highest correction of 2.5 per cent, followed by telecoms, non-bank financial institutions and power.
On the other hand, travel & leisure posted the highest gain of 2.9 per cent, followed by ceramic, cement and banking.
Low-cap stocks dominated the weekly turnover list with Golden Son becoming the most traded shares, with shares worth Tk 804 million changing hands, followed by Fu-Wang Ceramic, Asiatic Laboratories, Best Holdings and Central Pharma.
Newly listed Asiatic Laboratories was the week's top gainer, posting a 16.50 per cent rise while Stylecraft was the worst loser, shedding 7.18 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also saw sharp decline with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI) losing 153 points to 16,937 and the Selective Categories Index (CSCX) shedding 93 points to 10,168.
Of the issues traded, 186 declined, 104 advanced and 22 others remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 20 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 660 million.

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