Turnover dips below Tk 4b-mark

Stocks edged marginally down Wednesday after two sessions of positive trend with turnover dipping below Tk 4.0 billion mark once again as investors acted cautiously.
The market opened with a positive note but could not sustain amid volatile trading. At the end of the trading session, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) -- DSEX -- ended at 4,750.26 points, shedding 6.62 points or 0.13 per cent from previous session.
The other two indices also ended in red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips lost 0.94 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 1,688.74 points. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) dropped 0.95 points or 0.09 per cent to close at 992.53 points.
Market participation at DSE remained sluggish and total turnover came down to Tk 3.96 billion, registering 27 per cent decline over the previous session's value of Tk 5.42 billion.
"Market witnessed another flat session. Central bank's revised circular regarding banks' capital market exposure made investors cautious, resulting in sharp decline in turnover," commented International Leasing Securities, in its daily market analysis.
"Falling turnover coupled with short term profit booking put a drag on upbeat tone," said IDLC Investments.  
"As the bourse once again turned red after two positive sessions, volatile Small Cap took the maximum hit over other Cap classes," said the merchant bank.
With a number of companies awaiting earning declarations, stock specific vibration continued in the market, the merchant bank added.
"Market direction remained unclear over jittery market participation. With no major negative cue, investors appeared to be jittery about the sector specific movement," observed LanlaBangla Securities.
"Intraday benchmark index showed twist and turn in the last hour as market sentiment seems to have been jolted by stringent movement in market for last few trading sessions," said the stock broker.
"The lack of direction may persist for a while, but the long term momentum is with the bulls. So, any short-side break could be short lived," said Zenith Investments.  
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 289 issues traded, 162 declined, 93 advanced and 34 issues closed unchanged on the DSE floor.
Most of the sectors suffered from the market's negative vibe. Food & allied sector gained 2.87 per cent. The staggering gain has mainly resulted in from the large cap BATBC which appreciated 4.54 per cent.
Telecommunications lost the most of 0.88 per cent - followed by NBFIs and banks which declined 0.62 per cent and 0.52 per cent respectively.  Pharmaceuticals and fuel & power also ended lower with losing 0.10 per cent and 0.11 per cent respectively.
Activities decreased in the major bourse (DSE) where volume and trade were down 22.01 per cent and 14.45 per cent respectively. A total of 0.095 million trades were executed with 71.22 million securities of trading volume.
The market capitalisation of the DSE stood at Tk 2,907.39 billion against Tk 2,907.70 billion in the previous session.
Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) dominated the top turnover chart with shares worth Tk 240.29 million changing hands followed by Olympic, Confidence Cement, Square Pharma and Meghna Petroleum.
Desh Garment was the day's highest gainer; posting a rise of 9.87 per cent while Generation Next Fashion was the day's worst losers, slumping by 19.59 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed marginally lower with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX losing 12.04 points to close at 9,328.71 points.
Losers beat gainers as 141 declined and 66 advanced with 15 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 7.43 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 365.11 million.