Stocks finish lower for two weeks

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Babul Barman | Published: September 03, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

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Stocks finished slightly lower for the second week in a row that ended Thursday as investors opted for profit-booking on some large-cap stocks ahead of Holy Eid-ul-Azha festival.
Analysts said the large-cap stocks were under selling pressure, especially during the first three sessions of the week, while the last two witnessed some buying pressure as pre-Eid sale pressure subdued.
Among the large-cap issues, ICB faced 2.30 per cent erosion, followed by BATBC 1.90 per cent, Titas Gas 1.70 per cent, Renata 1.60 per cent and Square Pharma 1.20 per cent.
"The week's early weakness was due to profit taking, with traders cashing in on stocks ahead of vacation for Eid-ul-Azha," said an analyst at a leading stockbroker.
The week witnessed five trading sessions as usual. The week started in a declining mood, losing 30.61 points at the first three sessions. However, last two sessions recovered 25.38 points.  
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 5.23 points or 0.11 per cent to finish the week at 4,549.04 points.
IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, said, "Over the ups and downs, investors tried to  generate  some  short-term  trades  and  in-between booked  some  profit  in  large and micro cap stocks".
The merchant bank noted that the market offered some buying opportunities to the investors after the loss of 72 points in last few days' down trend. Investors tried to utilise the opportunity and exerted buying pressure in the later part of the week.
"The investors tried to grab the opportunities of declining trend and created some buying pressure on short-term trading motive. Consequently,  the  broad  index  recovered  at  the  later  part  of  the  week," said the merchant bank.
The two other indices also ended in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 3.55 points or 0.20 per cent to settle at 1,744.62. The DSE Shariah Index lost 4.02 points or 0.36 per cent to close at 1,103.33.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also finished lower with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, falling 18.79 points or 0.22 per cent to close at 8,502.49.
"The upward swing of the market in the last two trading sessions may be an indication of change in investors' behaviour," said LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, in its weekly analysis.
The stockbroker noted that both small and large cap stocks were present in the list of the turnover leaders, however, the list of top gainers were dominated by general insurance companies.
The total turnover on the DSE stood at Tk 22.24 billion, which was Tk 11 per cent higher than the previous week's Tk 20.03 billion as last week saw five trading sessions against previous week's four.
The daily turnover averaged Tk 4.45 billion, registering a decline of 11.20 per cent over the previous week's average of Tk 5.0 billion.
Overall activities remained confined on, engineering, fuel and power and pharmaceuticals, where they captured 18 per cent, 16 per cent and 15 per cent respectively of the week's total turnover.
Block trade contributed 3.80 per cent to the week's total turnover; where stocks like IDLC Finance, DBH, Renata, Prime Insurance and Gemini Sea Food dominated the block trade board.
City Bank Capital, a merchant bank, said, "Investors' participation remained sluggish and continued to sell off shares for encashment purpose ahead of Eid-ul-Azha".
The losers took a marginal lead over the gainers as out of 326 issues traded, 148 closed lower, 144 ended higher and 34 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor last week.
One listed company - Keya Cosmetics-- recommended 18 per cent stock dividend last week for the year ended on June 30, 2016. In 2015, the company disbursed 20 per cent stock dividend.
The total market capitalisation of the DSE also fell 0.20 per cent last week as it was Tk 3,211.58 billion on the opening day of the week and it came down to Tk  3,205.07 billion on the closing day.
Shahjibazar Power Company dominated the week's turnover chart with about 6.38 million shares worth Tk 1.02 billion changing hands, followed by MJL Bangladesh Tk 781 million, National Tubes Tk 771 million, Beximco Pharma Tk 584 million and Square Pharma Tk 563 million.
Continental Insurance was the week's best performer, posting a gain of 37.69 per cent, while National Tubes was the worst loser, slumping by 15.97 per cent.
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