Stocks witnessed yet another bearish week that ended on Thursday amid dull trading as investors continued their selling binge on sector specific shares.
Market analysts said investors were mostly on selling binge on insurance and engineering sectors shares while some were busy with rebalancing portfolio amid ongoing corporate declarations.
A leading broker said the small investors were not confident enough to inject fresh fund while institutional investors followed 'wait-and-see' strategy amid ongoing corporate declarations.
He noted that majority of investors were reluctant to make fresh investment amid liquidity shortage, taking the turnover further low.
The week saw five trading sessions as usual. Of them, the market suffered losses three sessions while two saw marginal gain.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 33.17 points or 0.58 per cent to settle at 5,653.
DSEX eroded more than 294 points or 4.90 per cent in the past seven consecutive weeks.
The DSE Shariah Index also lost 11.48 points to close at 1,292 points.
However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 12.36 points to finish at 2005 riding on large-cap stocks' price surged.
Market ended the week lower despite satisfactory gain of 9.0 per cent of multinational companies. The multinational companies accounted for 31.50 per cent of the DSE's market caplitalisation, according to City Bank Resources.
Week's top six gainers were multinational companies with BATBC topped the chart, gaining 27.36 per cent, followed by Reckitt Benckiser with 22.83 per cent gain, Marico 17.89 per cent, GlaxoSmithKline 17.23 per cent, Berger Paints 11.96 per cent and Bata Shoe 11.62 per cent.
The total turnover stood at Tk 28.84 billion last week against Tk 29.80 billion in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged Tk 5.76 billion, registering a decline of 3.22 per cent over the previous week's average of Tk 5.95 billion.
Block trade contributed 2.20 per cent to the week's total turnover, where stocks like Shajalal Islami Bank, BATBC, Nurani Dyeing and United Power dominated the block trade board.
The shaky investors liquidated their holdings to avoid further loss from general insurance, textile, ceramic and engineering sectors which pushed down the market in the week, commented International Leasing Securities.
The stockbroker noted that the bargain hunters took position in food, cement, pharma and financial institutions sector stocks based on the latest earnings and year-end dividend declarations.
The market capitalisation of the DSE, however, rose 1.61 per cent to Tk 4,196 billion, from Tk 4,130 billion in the week before.
Food and allied sector recorded the highest gain of 20.89 per cent, riding on BATBC which gained 27.36 per cent alone.
Pharmaceuticals and power also gained 2.19 per cent, followed by power, 0.34 per cent, banking 0.33 per cent and financial institutions 0.18 per cent.
On the other hand, insurance and engineering sector lost 7.88 per cent and 3.10 per cent respectively.
Losers outnumbered the gainers, as out of 350 issues traded, 262 closed lower, 70 ended higher and 18 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
BATBC dominated the turnover chart, with shares worth Tk 1.82 billion changing hands. The company accounted for 6.33 per cent of the week's total turnover.
The other turnover leaders were United Power, Dutch-Bangla Bank, Monno Ceramic and Brac Bank.
BATBC was the week's best performer, gaining 27.36 per cent, while Bangladesh National Insurance was the worst loser, losing 17.70 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also ended lower, with its CSE All Share Price Index -- CASPI - losing 44 points or 0.25 per cent to settle at 17,351 and the Selective Categories Index -- CSCX -shedding 23 points or 0.21 per cent to finish at 10,514.
