Stocks fall for two weeks in a row

Babul Barman | Published: April 11, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

Stocks tumbled for two consecutive weeks with key index of the prime bourse hitting almost nine-month low as panicky investors released their holdings fearing further fall.
While the political situation was relatively calm, the investors remained cautious. "Fears over impact of prolonged political instability might be the reason behind the ongoing pessimism," said an analyst.
The week featured five trading sessions as usual. Of those, four sessions saw sharp fall while one session closed flat.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), dipped below 4,400-mark again and ended at 4,345.89 points, shedding 126.24 points or 2.82 per cent.
The two other indices also saw sharp decline. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips lost 31.89 points or 1.87 per cent to close at 1,671.17 points. The DSE Shariah Index plunged 23.12 points or 2.12 per cent to close at 1,065.68 points.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also saw sharp fall with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - lost 233.59 points or 2.80 per cent to close the week at 8,090.85 points.
Turnover, the most important indicator of the market, remained sluggish at the DSE. The total turnover for the week stood at Tk 16.81 billion against Tk 17.95 billion the week before.
The daily turnover for the week averaged Tk 3.36 billion, registering a decline of 6.32 per cent over the previous week's average of Tk 3.59 billion.
Although political uncertainty seemed a bit eased, investors' sentiment failed to revive or even improve, bringing out another dismal week for the equity market, said IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, in its weekly market analysis.
"Participants' lack of confidence in the stability of political calm remained a major reason of the prolonged pessimism," said the merchant bank.
The merchant bank said the impact of the strikes and blockades on the economy as well as on earnings of listed companies are yet to be figured out.
Investors were shaky on their respective cases and initiated herding movements, which created major flight to selected few stocks, leaving rest of the market dry, said the merchant bank.
LankaBangla Securities said the market took selling shock last week, with benchmark index losing 126.24 points. The so-called 'psychological' 4,300-level worked as a floor to ease selling pressure.
"Apart from lack of confidence due to political instability, newly listed United Power is largely responsible for recent fall as large portfolio adjustment selling of other shares to buy United Power's shares affected index negativity," said a stock broker, seeking anonymity.
Fuel and power was the week's most vibrant sector along with pharmaceuticals, capturing 28 per cent and 18 per cent of the week's total turnover respectively.
Fuel and power also kept its leadership in sectoral gain by appreciating 6.9 per cent followed by telecommunication 4.28 per cent and pharmaceuticals 1.63 per cent. Conversely, the losing sectors were mutual fund 5.95 per cent, textile 5.05 per cent and BNFIs 4.85 per cent.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 321 issues traded, 283 declined, 34 advanced and 4 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Eight listed companies-Dhaka Bank, Standard Bank, Square Textiles, Nitol Insurance, International Leasing & Financial Services, BD Lamps, Argon Denims and National Housing recommended dividend last week.
The market capitalisation of the DSE went down slightly by 0.51 per cent as it was Tk 3,131.49 billion on the opening day of the week and it stood at Tk 3,115.47 billion on closing day of the week.
Newly listed United Power dominated the week's top turnover chart, with 19.05 million shares of Tk 2.52 billion changing hands during the week followed by ACI, IFAD Autos, MJL BD and Shasha Denims.
Unique Hotel & Resort was the week's top gainer, posting a rise of 15.12 per cent while Zaheen Spinning was the week's worst loser, plunging by 21.70 per cent.
The new issue United Power made debut last week. The company's share closed at Tk 145.3 on Thursday, the last trading day of the week, registering an increase of 101.80 per cent from its offer price Tk 72 over the week.
Â Â Â babulfexpress@gmail.com