Stocks fail to sustain initial momentum

Dhaka stocks posted moderate gains on Sunday, although initial start in the morning was stronger amid favorable export outlook.
"Economists say the devaluation of Chinese currency RMB, also known as Yuan, against the US dollar will not harm Bangladesh's external trade rather help through cheaper import of raw materials from the giant economy," said LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, quoting newspaper report.
Quoting the central bank data, the stockbroker said even with China's economic slowdown and the ensuing financial market turmoil, Bangladesh's exports rose 28 per cent in August.
The cost of funds for non-bank financial institutions has dropped to a record low, due to excess liquidity and poor demand for money due to sluggish economic activities, the stockbroker added.
The average cost of funds for the non-banks dropped to 9.41 per cent in June 2015, down from 10.99 per cent in June last year, it said.
DSEX increased marginally to 8.16 points and closed at 4768.30. DS30 and DSES were up by 4.02 and 1.27 points respectively.
International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, said, "The capital market tuned in marginally positive territory amidst shaky investors' confidence".
The stockbroker noted that the investors from both side of the fence demonstrated their active presence during the session.
"A major group of investors demonstrated buying interest in comparatively fundamentally sound stocks following the recent downbeat momentum while another group made profit booking sell-offs due to fear of further fall in stock prices," said the stockbroker.
Investors failed to understand any clear indication of the market outlook, which created choppy trading during the session, it said.
According to BRAC-EPL, a stockbroker, the large-cap sectors showed mixed performance. Cement saw highest loss of 2.11 per cent, followed by NBFIs 0.66 per cent. Banks closed the session 0.11 per cent lower.
Pharmaceuticals closed 1.47 per cent higher. It was followed by food and allied 0.22 per cent. Telecommunications advanced by 0.18 per cent. Power advanced by an insignificant 0.09 per cent, said the BRAC-EPL.
Sheltech Brokerage said the investors remained interested in pharmaceuticals and engineering stocks. Among the prominent sectors, engineering led the top market cap gainers with 1.7 per cent gain, while cement led the top market cap losers with 2.1 per cent loss.
"General insurance showed the highest turnover increase of 87 per cent while telecommunication showed the highest turnover loss of 40.7 per cent. Engineering had the highest contribution of 18 per cent in turnover," said the Sheltech Brokerage.
Following last trading session, the prime index, DSEX, moved upward with 139 gaining stocks and 143 losers at closing, it said.
IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, said, "The broad market stayed flat with sharp movements in handful issues. The investors were trying to ride on volatility and earn some spreads from short-term positioning and repositioning and thus resorted to smaller cap classes".
The mid and large-cap stayed flat, while mini-cap flourished. On the sectoral front, life insurance out performed others with 2.4 per cent gain, followed by pharmaceuticals 1.5 per cent. Conversely, cement disappointed the investors most which lost 2.0 per cent, said the IDLC Investments.
"Market protrudes a glimpse of recovery at the start of the week, albeit it is difficult to say whether it has got rid of its sidewalk or not," said Zenith Investments, in an analysis.
The total turnover volume however fluctuates at a very low scale with pressure from both buyers and sellers, it said.
Overall there was a better sectoral movement. With improved supply and demand mobility market acted positively, said the Zenith Investments.
With improved supply and demand mobility market acted positively. Again, given last week's index fluctuation, a natural correction won't be surprising, as it is difficult to conclude whether market would be able to sustain the day's positive momentum, the Zenith analysis added.
The day's top ten turnover were BSRM of Tk 195.42 million changed hands followed by Aman Feed Tk 191.37 million, Lafarge Surma Tk 150 million, ACI Tk 125 million, Al-Haj Textiles Tk 91.34 million, FAR Chemicals Tk 85.33 million, Renata Tk 84.39 million, Matin Spinning Tk 76 million, United Airways Tk 74 million and Emerald Oil Tk 73.65 million changed hands.
The day's top ten gainers were Deshbandhu Polymer 9.93 per cent, Aramit Ceramics 8.69 per cent, Rupali Life Insurance 7.73 per cent, Usmania Glass 7.09 per cent, Popular Life Insurance 6.92 per cent, ACI Formulations 6.45 per cent, BD Lamps 6.44 per cent, Beach Hatchery 6.25 per cent, In Tech Online 6.24 per cent and BSRM gained 6.12 per cent.
The top ten losers were Exim Bank 10 per cent, Aman Feed 9.05 per cent, Monno Ceramics 8.39 per cent, Standard Ceramics 7.05 per cent, Anwar Galvanizing 6.32 per cent, Aramit Cement 6.0 per cent, NCC Bank First MF 5.88 per cent, Premier Cement 5.12 per cent Hakkani Pulp and Paper lost 4.68 per cent.
The investors' attention was mainly concentrated on engineering 18 per cent, pharma and chemicals 17 per cent and textiles 13 per cent.
However, the port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) closed in the red with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - lost 0.35 points to end at 8,869.53.
Losers beat gainers, with 24 issues remained unchanged on the port city bourse that traded 9.12 million shares and mutual fund units with a value of Tk 302 million.
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