Stocks pass dull week as shaky investors stay on sidelines

After walking on the positive path for two weeks in a row, the stock market witnessed major correction last week that ended Thursday as investors' confidence were shaky.

The week featured all five trading sessions as usual and the market saw all sessions red. The prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) also came down below the 'psychological' threshold of 4,400 points in the last week's second session.

Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) went down by 73.12 points or 1.65 per cent to close at 4,363.09 points.

The other two indices also ended in the red. The DS30, comprising blue chips moved down by 17.46 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 1,604.40 points. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) lost 6.02 points or 0.60 per cent to close at 996.90 points.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), the port city bourse, also ended lower last week with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX- lost 136.12 points or 1.60 per cent to close the week at 8,327.12 points.

The week's total turnover stood at Tk 9.60 billion, registering a decline of 25.40 per cent over the previous week's total value of Tk 12.87 billion despite last week saw one more trading session against previous week's four days.

The daily turnover for the week averaged Tk 1.92 billion which was 40.32 per cent lower compared to previous week's average of Tk 3.12 billion.

The sluggish movements were prevailing throughout the week as the investors preferred to stay on the sidelines and participated "cautiously," said International Leasing Securities in an analysis.

"Revived tone of expected half-yearly and yearly declarations and upcoming monetary policy statement (MPS) for July-December period could not stand ahead of prolonged shaky market sentiment," commented IDLC Investments, in its weekly market analysis.

"This was frequently taking a toll in market movements and putting investors mostly in indecisive arena," said the merchant bank.

 "Turnover has also come down to a very minimal level. This low level of turnover is indicating a falling interest to sell at this level of prices," said LankaBangla Securities, in its weekly analysis.  

"Buyers are also staying on the sidelines. They are probably waiting for second quarter earnings to hit on the screen. From next week, second quarter earnings figures will start coming," said the stock broker.

The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 305 issues traded during the week, 243 declined, 49 advanced and 13 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

All the major sectors ended in red except telecommunications and food and allied which gained 0.68 per cent and 0.33 per cent respectively.

Fuel and power posted the highest loss last week- 1.78 per cent. Banks and NBFIs posted 1.71 per cent and 0.59 per cent loss respectively. Pharmaceuticals retraced by 0.91 per cent.

Only one listed company - Stylecraft Ltd -- made corporate declaration last week. The company declared 50 per cent cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. In 2012, the company declared 45 per cent cash dividend.

A new issue -- FAR Chemical commenced trading at DSE last week and gained 426 per cent from its IPO price of Tk 10 in its debut trading day.

The market capitalisation of the DSE went down by 0.73 per cent as it was Tk 2,911.12 billion on the opening day of the week and it stood at Tk 2,889.83 billion on closing session of the week.

Beximco dominated the week's top turnover chart for the second straight week with shares worth Tk 627.95 million changing hands during the week followed by GP, FAR Chemical, Appollo Ispat and Lafarge Surma Cement.

Bangladesh Industrial Finance Corporation (BIFC) was the week's top gainer, posting a rise of 16.80 per cent while National Life Insurance was the week's worst loser, slumping by 28.33 per cent.