The stocks returned to the red during the past week after a moderate rise in previous week with political crisis continued to keep the investors unsettled.
During the last week that ended Thursday, the benchmark index DSEX dipped below the psychological threshold of 4,500-mark again and ended at 4,472, losing 37 points or 0.9%.
The blue-chip index DS30 fell nearly 11 points or 0.7% to 1,703. The shariah index DSES was down 8 points or 0.8% to 1,088.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Categories Index, CSCX dropped 14 points or 0.2% to 8,324.
The week’s daily average turnover stood at Tk359 crore, registering an increase of 20.79% over the previous week.
Pharmaceutical along with fuel and power was the week’s most dominated sector. The both sectors together accounted for 20% of the week’s total turnover.
“As the first quarter of 2015 ended in political turmoil, investors’ expectations for Q1 earnings turned negative with a fearful concern on the overall performance of the economy,” said IDLC Investments.
Some investors tried to reverse the downtrend by taking positions in the large caps, it said. “However, the enthusiasm was short lived as profit booking pressure wiped out the gains.”
LankaBangla Securities said: “The last week started with positive momentum with a hope of improvement in political situation. However, index dragged sharply in last couple of days of the week after announcement of renewed countrywide strikes.”
Amid cautious trading in the capital market, some value stocks still gave returns to the investors, it said.
Cement witnessed heavy correction of 4.6%. Banks and food and allied also went down reckoning a hefty loss of 2% and 1.6% respectively.
Among the large-cap sectors, power registered the highest gain of almost 2%, followed by non-banking financial institutions 1.5%. Telecommunications and pharmaceuticals also advanced by 1% and 0.7% respectively.