Stocks witnessed yet another bearish session Tuesday, extending the losing spell for five consecutive sessions, as investors continued their selling binge on bank, telecom and pharma stocks.
Market operators said ongoing pessimism coupled with upcoming holy month of Ramadan prompted many investors to cash in on stocks while some adopted 'wait-and-see' stance ahead of the national budget.
"Disappointing earnings results and dividend declarations dented investors' confidence and prompted them to sell shares, especially Grameenphone and Square Pharmaceuticals, taking the market into the red zone," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
The share price of GP, the largest market cap listed company, fell 1.19 per cent to close at Tk 457.30 each on Tuesday while the price of Square Pharma, the second largest market cap company, also fell 0.85 per cent to Tk 300.40 each.
The market opened on a positive note and the key index gained about 15 points within first 15 minutes of trading, but rest of the session fell steadily, finally DSEX fell more than 41 points while CSE All Share Price Index lost 140 points at closing.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 41.06 points or 0.72 per cent to settle at 5,642 points. DSEX shed more than 171 points within five consecutive trading sessions.
"Stocks witnessed another bearish session and extended the losing streak for the fifth session amid investors' shaky confidence," commented International Leasing Securities, in its regular market analysis.
The stockbroker noted that the persistent bearish vibe in the market kept the investors worried and prompted them to go for selling shares to avoid further losses on their portfolio.
"The investors sold shares mostly from telecom, pharmaceutical, food, financial institution and banking sectors, contributing to the fall in indices," the stockbroker said.
The two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 18.58 points or 0.87 per cent to finish at 2,095. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) lost 12.12 points or 0.92 per cent to close at 1,306.
Bearish sentiment also reflected on the trading activities as total turnover on the DSE amounting to Tk 4.73 billion, which was 3.50 per cent lower than the previous day's Tk 4.90 billion.
According to Sheltceh Brokerage, the losing streak continued amid correction in textile and large-cap stocks, particularly Grameenphone and Square Pharmaceuticals.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 338 issues traded, 223 closed lower, 83 ended higher and 32 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco continued to top the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 284 million changing hands, followed by Western Marine Shipyard, Square Pharmaceuticals, United Power and Grameenphone.
Western Marine Shipyard was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 9.62 per cent while Dulamia Cotton was the day's worst loser, losing 6.81 per cent.
The port city's bourse CSE also closed lower with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI - plunging by 136 points to settle at 17,420 and Selective Categories Index - CSCX - shedding 89 points to finish at 10,525.
Here too, losers beat the gainers as 141 issues closed lower, 60 ended higher and 31 remained unchanged.
The port city bourse traded 7.38 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 223 million in turnover.
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