Babul Barman
Stocks slipped into the red last week that ended Thursday, after remaining upbeat in the previous week, as risk-averse investors booked quick profits.
Market insiders said the retail investors opted for quick-profit on stocks that moved significantly in previous week, while institutional investors were mostly reluctant to make fresh investment ahead of national budget scheduled to be unveiled on June 2, pulling the market slightly down.
The week witnessed five trading sessions as usual. Among them, market edged lower for three sessions, while two sessions managed to close in positive territory.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), came down below the 4,300-mark and settled the week at 4,298.65, shedding 8.15 points or 0.19 per cent, after gaining 111.10 points or 2.65 per cent in the previous week.
"The week opened with a positive vibe continuing last week's upward movement. However, profit booking from last week's gains stopped the up move short," said LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, in its weekly analysis.
The stockbroker noted that the week saw a lot of intra-day volatilities in the market, although there wasn't any large movement in the benchmark index like last week.
Most of the sectors increased in market capitalisation. But the two largest sectors -- bank and pharmaceuticals- went down, pulling the index down with them by 8.15 points, said the stockbroker.
"Large-cap issues like United Power, MJL BD, BSRM and BSRM Steels continued their dominance as turnover leaders as well," said the stockbroker.
The DSE Shariah Index also inched down by 1.04 points or 0.10 per cent to close at 1,056.09. However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, edged up 1.96 points or 0.12 per cent to finish at 1,667.25.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed in the red with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, falling 14.08 points or 0.17 per cent to settle at 8,043.63.
The total turnover for the week stood at Tk 19.55 billion which was Tk 17.45 billion in the week before as last week saw five trading sessions instead of previous week's four.
The daily turnover averaged Tk 3.91 billion, registering a decline of 10.41 per cent over the previous week's average of Tk 4.36 billion.
"The market edged lower with a large fall in turnover which shows investors' cautiousness and lack of confidence to the market," said an analyst at a leading stockbrokerage firm.
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