Turnover dips below Tk 6.0 billion-mark

Stocks edged lower for the second running session Thursday with turnover dipping below Tk 6.0 billion-mark on the prime bourse as most of the investors followed 'wait-and-see' approach.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) went down further by 16.04 points or 0.31 per cent to close at 5,154.10 points after witnessing volatility throughout the session.
The other two indices also closed in the red. The DS30, comprising blue chips lost 5.32 points or 0.27 per cent to close at 1,943.67 points. The DSE Shariah Index shed 4.30 points or 0.35 per cent to close at 1,216.23 points.
Trading at DSE remained sluggish posting the lowest turnover in last six weeks. The total turnover amounted to Tk 5.72 billion which was 20.77 per cent lower compared to previous session's value of Tk 7.22 billion.
The investors' attention was mostly concentrated on power, engineering and pharma - the sectors that accounted for 28 per cent, 12 per cent and 10 per cent respectively of the day's total turnover.
"The market endured a bearish session amidst the investors' indecisive attitude due to the gradual decline in overall investors' participation," said International Leasing Securities.
Outstanding quarterly earnings declarations from few industry leading stocks failed to create any kind of enthusiasm among the investors as most of them are waiting the market to turn bullish, said the International Leasing.
"The investors were still shaky about market movement and waiting for perfect confirmation of trend reversal," said IDLC Investments, in its regular market analysis.
They were highly focusing on upcoming earnings disclosures and started pursuing 'wait and see' approach, said the merchant bank.
"Market once again got drenched in red, although a range of bound movement was witnessed during the mid-afternoon trade hour," said Zenith Investments.
It is apparent that the sidewalk may continue for few more days before market decides whether to get back to its usual up trend or take a new route to head downwards, said the Zenith analysis.
"Since our market is positively correlated, therefore, strong positive news of some stocks fails to create much impact as it should," said the Zenith Investments.  
Among the major sectors, banks and pharmaceuticals edged down by 0.52 per cent and 0.07 per cent respectively. NBFIs posted the highest gain of the session of 2.31 per cent.  
Telecommunication, food and allied also yield decent gains of 1.0 per cent and 0.54 per cent respectively. Fuel and power closed higher with 0.13 per cent gain.