Stock extended their losing streak for the five straight weeks that ended Thursday as investors' confidence eroded further in the wake of the prolonged political turmoil.
Analysts said that the lack of investors' confidence coupled with two and a half months long political instability with no sign of ending sapped investors' enthusiasm.
The week featured four trading sessions instead of five as market was closed Tuesday due to public holiday on the occasion of Birthday of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Of those, first three sessions closed lower while last one saw marginal gain.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) dipped below the 4,500-mark and ended at 4,468.02 points, shedding further 88.92 points or 1.95 per cent.
The two other indices also ended in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips lost 27.74 points or 1.62 per cent to close at 1,686.67 points. The DSE Shariah Index declined 23.30 points or 2.11 per cent to close at 1,081.49 points.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended lower for the five consecutive weeks with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - shed 135.61 points or 1.60 per cent to close the week at 8,300.08 points.
Activities were gearing up first three sessions of the week, but plunged in the last one, as investors' attention diverted to cricket.
The total turnover for the week came down to Tk 10.23 billion against Tk 14.22 billion in the week before as the week saw one less trading session.
The daily turnover for the week averaged Tk 2.55 billion, registering a decline of 10 per cent over the previous week's average of Tk 2.84 billion.
Fuel and power sector kept its dominance in turnover last week followed by pharmaceuticals each capturing 16.2 per cent and 14.5 per cent of the week's total turnover respectively.
"The prime bourse stretched its bearish streak for the five consecutive weeks amid shaky confidence from the market participants," said International Leasing Securities, in its weekly market analysis.
The prolonged political strife kept the investors worried and they also preferred to stay on sideline, said the International Leasing.
LankaBangla Securities said: "The losing trend continued on the backdrop of frail investor confidence, which is taking heavy batter from the unresolved political scenario".
IDLC Investments said: "As investors had realized that the political turmoil had taken up the entire first quarter of 2015, their expectations for Q1 earnings turned grey with a genuine concern of the long term performance of the economy from the more sophisticated quadrant of investors".
A few participants found solace for their money, investing in multinational companies (MNCs) stocks which are presumed to be relatively safer than the broader market, said the merchant bank.
Despite the traction in MNCs, broad line market sentiment remained negative, taking prime index DSEX to 151 sessions' low of 4,443 points, said the merchant bank.
Most of the major sectors failed to gain last week. The cement sector took the most hit through losing 7.24 per cent market cap, which could be attributed to the Holcim-Lafarge merger news.
NBFIs retraced 3.48 per cent. Banks, power and food and allied sectors also ended in red, losing 2.81 per cent, 2.17 per cent and 0.91 per cent respectively.
The telecom sector earned the most market cap through gaining 2.55 per cent, thanks to GP. Pharmaceuticals also posted a gain of 0.74 per cent.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 318 issues traded, 247 declined, 60 advanced and 11 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Three listed companies- Berger Paints, Brac Bank and ONE Bank recommended dividend last week. Berger Paints recommended 220 per cent cash, Brac Bank 20 per cent cash and ONE Bank recommended 12.5 per cent cash and 12.5 per cent stock dividend.
The market capitalisation of the DSE went down further by 0.93 per cent as it was Tk 3,138.15 billion on the opening day of the week and it stood at Tk 3,108.98 billion on closing day of the week.
Shahjibazar Power Company dominated the week's top turnover chart with shares worth Tk 677.02 million changing hands followed by Lafarge Surma, GP, IFAD Autos and ACI Ltd.
Reckitt Benckiser was the week's top gainer, posting a rise of 9.79 per cent while Singer BD was the week's worst loser, plunging by 20.41 per cent.
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Stocks continue bleeding for 5th week
Babul Barman | Published: March 21, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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