Stocks sink for 4th straight week

Stocks plummeted for four consecutive weeks that ended Thursday, with key index of the prime bourse plunging below 4,400 points mark as investors' confidence eroded.
Of the week's five trading sessions, four finished in the red and only one session managed to close positive.
Week-on-week, the prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange-DSEX-- came down below the "psychological" threshold of 4,400 points and ended at 4,384.06 points, shedding 32.89 points or 0.74 per cent.
The other two indices also closed in the red. The DS30, comprising blue chips lost 14.79 points or 0.92 per cent to close at 1,589.60 points. The DSE Shariah Index went down by 11.92 points or 1.21 per cent to close at 972.92 points.
The port city's Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) was not spared. It ended lower in the last four weeks with its Selective Categories Index --CSCX lost 73.6 points or 0.86 per cent to close the week at 8,435.24 points.
The total turnover at DSE amounted to Tk 11.73 billion in the week, which was 19.40 per cent lower from the previous week's total value of Tk 14.55 billion. However, the fall in total turnover is much steeper than 19.40 per cent if compared with the previous week.
The week's average daily turnover stumbled to Tk 2.34 billion in the week, registering a decline of 35.5 per cent over the previous week's average of Tk 3.63 billion.
"With the quarterly declarations slipping on the negative territory, investors started to search for new stimulus to rebalance portfolio, which ended in vain," commented IDLC Investments in its weekly market analysis.
"Budgetary expectations and current macroeconomic scenario took the spotlight of last week's show, while the central bank's regulatory actions played the role of a protagonist," said the merchant bank.
"Expected cancellation of whitening of black money through capital market investment facility coupled with the central bank's more stringent actions to monitor and control banks and their subsidiaries' investment portfolio outweighed the strong possibilities of corporate tax cut and subsequent improved profitability, in investors' mindset, exerting a bearish vibe," said the merchant bank.
Consequently, market was continuing its downbeat note with 7-month record low turnover up to the mid-point of the week.
"Market continues to fall this week in line with the downtrend of last three weeks," said LankaBangla Securities, in its weekly market analysis.
Despite stable economic scenario and ample liquidity, the market has been going down. Economic activity has not yet picked up after last year's disruption. First quarter 2014 performance of listed companies were not that much encouraging, said the stock broker.
On the other hand, banks are reducing their exposure to the capital market following central bank's directive, it said.
"All these are weighing on the market. Investors are eagerly looking for the upcoming budget. They are expecting this budget to be pro-growth," the stock broker said.
"There has been proposal from different stakeholders to reduce the corporate tax rate of listed companies. There will be a positive impact on profitability of the listed companies if the government approves this proposal in the upcoming budget," said the stock broker.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 303 issues traded during the week, 192 declined, 87 advanced and 24 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
All the major sectors ended lower during the week. Telecommunications was the biggest loser with 3.62 per cent loss. It was followed by food and allied 2.10 per cent, pharmaceuticals 2.08 per cent. Fuel and power, NBFIs and banks also retraced by 0.35 per cent, 0.81 per cent and 0.30 per cent respectively.
Few developments in the Padma Bridge construction drew back long-term investors into the engineering and cement sectors, helping them to gain 2.30 per cent and 2.14 per cent respectively.
Only one listed company - Ambee Pharmaceuticals made corporate declaration during the week of 15 per cent cash and 20 per cent stock dividend for their investors the year ended on December 31, 2013.
The market capitalisation of the DSE went down by 0.95 per cent as it was Tk 2,874.15 billion on the opening day of the week and it stood at Tk 2,846.98 billion on closing session of the week.
Lafarge Surma Cement climbed the week's top turnover chart with shares worth Tk 600.99 billion changing hands during the week followed by Square Pharma, Hwa Well Textiles, GP and Matin Spinning.
Ambee Pharmaceuticals was the week's top gainer, posting a rise of 23.64 per cent following its hefty dividend declaration while Golden Son was the week's top loser, slumping by 22.82 per cent following its price adjustment after record date.