Stocks witnessed yet another sluggish session Sunday, extending the losing streak for the eighth straight session, as investors kept their selling spree ahead of Ramadan.
Market operators said the ongoing pessimism, lower-than-expected quarterly earnings results coupled with upcoming holy month of Ramadan, continued to prompt investors to cash in on stocks while some adopted 'wait-and-see' stance ahead of the national budget for the fiscal year 2018-19.
"Disappointing first quarter (Q1) earnings results of some companies, especially banks, eroded investors confidence and persuaded them for selling shares," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
Following the week-long bearish trend, the market opened on a positive note, but failed to sustain as the session progressed. Finally, DSEX fell more than 28 points while CSE All Share Price Index lost 65 points at closing.
DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 28.55 points or 0.51 per cent to settle at 5,558. DSEX shed more than 255 points in the past eight consecutive sessions.
"The market plummeted the eighth consecutive sessions as the investors persisted to sell-off shares in anticipation of further fall ahead of Ramadan," commented International Leasing Securities, in its regular market analysis.
The stockbroker noted that the market started with optimistic note as the investors' buying enthusiasm experienced in sector specific stocks, but the profit booking tendency of risk-averse investors pushed down the market in the later part of the session.
"Textile, engineering, fuel & power and bank sectors witnessed most liquidation while food and telecom sectors enjoyed buoyancy," said the stockbroker.
The DSE Shariah index also lost 5.35 points or 0.40 per cent to settle at 1,301. However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 1.83 points or 0.08 per cent to finish at 2,075.
Bearish sentiment also reflected on the trading activities as the total turnover on the major bourse amounting to Tk 3.78 billion, which was 33 per cent lower than the previous day's turnover of Tk 5.62 billion.
The investors' activity was mostly focused on engineering, grabbing 21 per cent of the day's total turnover, followed by banking and textile with 13 per cent each.
According to EBL Securities, the investors' selling spree continued based on the anticipation of poor performance in the first quarter earnings as some recent disclosures already marred the investors' confidence.
The large-cap sectors showed negative performance except telecommunication which advanced 0.30 per cent.
Engineering sector posted the highest loss, losing 1.43 per cent, followed by fuel & power with 1.08 per cent, banking 0.87 per cent, pharmaceuticals 0.18 per cent and non-bank financial institutions 0.18 per cent.
The losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 338 issues traded, 219 closed lower, 75 ended higher and 44 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Western Marine Shipyard topped the day's turnover chart with shares worth nearly Tk 245 million changing hands, closely followed by United Power, Bximco, Bangladesh Steel Re-rolling Mills, and Queen South Textile.
Standard Insurance was also the day's highest gainer, posting a gain of 9.92 per cent while Mutual Trust Bank was the day's worst loser, losing 16 per cent.
The port city's bourse CSE also ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI - shedding 65 points to settle at 17,195 points and Selective Categories Index - CSCX - losing 35 points to finish at 10,394 points.
Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 154 issues closed lower, 51 ended higher and 26 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 6.56 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 172 million in turnover.
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