Stocks keep sliding for third week

Babul Barman | Published: June 25, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Stocks extended their losing spell for the third week in a row that ended Thursday, as most of the investors continued their selling mood ahead of 9-day Eid festival and June-closing.
Brokers said the majority number of investors kept themselves refrain from making new investments in stocks ahead of Eid festival, while some remained watchful about the national budget for the fiscal year 2016-17, which is scheduled to be passed next week in the parliament.
Trading on both bourses will remain closed from July 1 to July 9 on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, including weekly holidays, leaving only five trading sessions before Eid vacation.
"The market sentiments remained weak since budget declaration on June 2, while pre-Eid sale pressure took a toll on first three sessions of the week, dragging the market down," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
The week witnessed five trading sessions as usual. Of them, first three sessions closed lower, while last two saw marginal gain.
Week-on-week, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 13.82 points or 0.31 per cent to finish the week at 4,381.46 points.
The two other indices also closed lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 14.91 points or 0.86 per cent to settle at 1,714.38. The DSE Shariah Index lost 1.91 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 1,078.91.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed lower with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, shedding 42.94 points or 0.52 per cent to close at the week at 8,191.67 points.
Trading activities remained poor as the total turnover for the week stood at Tk 16.19 billion, which was Tk 19.72 billion in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged Tk 3.24 billion, registering a decline of 18 per cent over the previous week's average of Tk 3.94 billion.
Pharmaceuticals continued to dominate the turnover chart, riding on newly-listed ACME Laboratories, capturing 22 per cent of the week's total turnover, followed by engineering and textile, where they captured 19 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.
LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, said, the investors might have become reluctant to inject any fresh fund in market during shortened trading sessions before the Eid holiday.
The stockbroker noted that benchmark index is still struggling below 4,400-level with mixed performance amid light market activities.
"Investors remained watchful about the national budget for the fiscal year 2017 as it will decide whether government considers the demands of business bodies in favour of economic prospect," said the stockbroker.
IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, said, "The market passed a mundane week with most of the sessions ending in flat realm".
The merchant bank noted that during first three sessions of the week, market confronted marginal selling pressure as investors opted for some profit booking before Eid holidays. However, the market reverted in the positive zone in the last two sessions.
Substantial amount of block trades were observed last week as it contributed 8.50 per cent of week's total turnover, where stocks like Renata and Islami Bank, accounted for Tk 413.85 million and Tk 383.3 million of block transaction, respectively, said the merchant bank.
City Bank Capital, a merchant bank, said, the market sentiment remained bearish on the retail investors' cautious move ahead for few events like Eid festival, fiscal year-end and approval of national budget in parliament.
Sheltech Brokerage said, first three days saw a sell-off amid cautiousness among investors, in the fourth session market tried to fight back and started upward move in the fifth session led by NBFI stocks.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 328 issues traded, 159 closed lower, 136 higher and 33 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor during the week.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell 0.27 per cent as it was Tk 3,124.24 billion on the opening day of week and it came down to Tk 3,115.94 billion on the closing day of week.
ACME dominated the week's turnover chart for the second week in a row with 8.16 million shares worth Tk 943 million changing hands, followed by Bangladesh Building Systems, Olympic Accessories, National Feed Mills and Square Pharmaceuticals.
National Feed Mills was the week's best performer, posting a gain of 19.05 per cent, while Rupali Bank was the week's worst loser, slumping by 15.44 per cent.
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