Stocks end lower on profit-booking

Babul Barman | Published: August 27, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Stocks witnessed marginal fall last week that ended Wednesday, after remaining upbeat in the previous week, as most of the investors opted for quick-profit booking amid lack of market triggers.
The market remained closed Thursday due to public holiday on account of Janmastami.
Brokers said the large-cap stocks were under selling pressure almost throughout the week, while a section of investors remained watchful on the upcoming earning declarations, dragging the market down.
Among the large-cap stocks, Olympic Industries plunged 5.60 per cent, followed by Islami Bank with 3.60 per cent, BATBC 3.20 per cent and Grameenphone 2.0 per cent.
"Speculative movement was also seen in some stocks last week amid upcoming dividend and earning declarations," said an analysis by a leading brokerage firm.
All the four trading sessions closed in the red.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 30.81 points or 0.67 per cent, finishing the week at 4,554.27.
LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, said, "The market scenario indicates investors' profit taking intention. The top turnover list was dominated by large-cap shares, whereas small-cap shares were predominant in the list of top gainers".
The two other indices also closed in the red zone. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell sharply by 17.76 points or 1.01 per cent to settle at 1,748.17. The DSE Shariah Index also lost 14.14 points or 1.26 per cent to close at 1,107.35.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also finished lower with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, falling 62.45 points or 0.72 per cent to close at 8,521.28.
Trading activities, however, remained strong as the week's total turnover stood at Tk 20.03 billion, which was Tk 17.77 billion in the week before, though the last week saw four trading sessions like previous week.
The daily turnover averaged Tk 5.0 billion, registering an increase of nearly 13 per cent higher over the previous week's average of Tk 4.44 billion.
City Bank Capital, a merchant bank, said, "The selling pressure intensified on continuous fall of almost all the large-cap stocks like GP, Square Pharma, BATBC, Olympic Industries, Islami Bank and Beximco Pharma".
"Block trade contributed 3.20 per cent to the week's total turnover, where stocks like Olympic Industries, IDLC Finance, Brac Bank, Renata, Berger Paints, IFIC Bank, Heidelberg Cement and Bata Shoe dominated the block trade board," said the City Bank analysis.
Overall activities remained confined on engineering, fuel and power and pharmaceutical sectors, where they captured 21 per cent, 16 per cent and 15 per cent respectively of the week's total turnover.
"The market continued to reel under pressure as investors opted for profit booking from some large-cap stocks," said IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, in its weekly market analysis.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 327 issues traded, 175 closed lower, 126 closed higher and 26 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
One listed company - GBB Power-- recommended 15 per cent cash dividend last week for the year ended on June 30, 2016.
The total market capitalisation of the DSE also fell 0.57 per cent last week as it was Tk 3,230.08 billion on the opening day of the week and it came down to TkÂ 3,211.58 billion on closing day of the week.
MJL Bangladesh dominated the week's turnover chart with about 7.73 million shares worth Tk 862 million changing hands, followed by Shahjibazar Power Company Tk 759 million, National Tubes Tk 678 million, Bangladesh Steel Re-rolling Mills Tk 529 million and Brac Bank Tk 402 million.
Federal Insurance was the week's best performer, posting a gain of 19.78 per cent, while ICB 8th Mutual Fund was the worst loser, slumping by 18.32 per cent.
babulfexpress@gmail.com