Bear spell continued to hit stock market as both indices and volume of trade were on the slide.
Factors, including disappointing half-yearly earnings, imminent Eid-ul-Fitr and fear of post-Ramadan political uncertainty in the run up to general election have made investors cautious, analysts say.
Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has officially discontinued the general index, DGEN, from Thursday onwards. It is now being replaced by DSEX, a free-float based weighted index developed by the Standard and Poor's.
In the week that ended on Thursday, the DSE broad index (DSEX) lost 67.5 points or 1.7% to close at 3,979. The blue-chip DS30 index ended at 1,477, shedding 1.2 points or 0.08%.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Category Index, CSCX, declined 150 points or 1.9% to 7,703. Investors' participation at DSE precipitated further as total turnover in the past week stood at Tk15.9bn compared to previous week's Tk23.5bn. The average daily turnover of the week was Tk3.2bn, down 32% over the previous week's average of Tk4.7bn.
"Over disappointing earnings and approaching Eid-ul-Fitr closure, investors broadly went for selling mode almost throughout the week," said IDLC Investments in its weekly market analysis.
The week started pessimistic, with fears gripping investors as share prices might decline in the days ahead. Resultantly, DSEX lost 59 points in the opening session, while turnover posted a two month low of Tk2.2bn.
Investors were pursuing meticulous strategy in their trading and continued to remain 'watchful' over the turnaround phenomenon, said IDLC.
"Institutional and big investors adopted 'wait and see' strategy which reflected in lower turnover," said a dealer. Losers took a strong lead over gainers as out of 294 issues traded during the week at DSE, 221 declined, 66 advanced and seven remained unchanged.
Only five sectors ended in positive last week with Food and Allied seeing the biggest gainers once again with 12.4% increase. Among the major sectors, pharmaceuticals posted the highest gain during the week with 5.4% rise followed by telecommunications 3%.
Banks lost the most with 4% decline followed by NBFIs 3.3% and fuel and power 0.8%% respectively.
Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd became the week's top turnover chart with shares worth Tk1.4bn changing hands followed by Meghna Petroleum, Olympic Industries, Padma Oil, GrameenPhone, Jamuna Oil, Square Pharma, Titas Gas, United Airways and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation.
