The Dhaka bourse witnessed losses in the broad index and turnover in the last week ended Thursday, as the investors remained 'watchful' ahead of the corporate declarations for the year ended on June 30, 2018.
The major sectors witnessed correction, affecting the benchmark index and the daily turnover value.
At the end of the week, DSEX, the benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,467.05 points with a loss of 0.6 per cent or 33.57 points.
The DSE30 index, comprising blue chip securities, declined by 0.98 per cent to close at 1,901 points, while the shariah index DSES closed at 1,255.51 with a loss of 1.25 per cent.
According to a market review of EBL Securities, the premier bourse observed downbeat session at the end of the week as investors remained 'watchful' ahead of the financial year-end declarations.
"The DSE witnessed negative vibe for three trading days and positive movement for two days as cautious investors booked quick-profit on large-cap sectors, especially financial and telecommunication issues which took the market into the red zone," said the EBL Securities.
The daily average turnover value declined on the premier bourse following investors' less participation.
During the week, the DSE featured an average daily turnover of Tk 7.76 billion, which was 13.81 per cent less than the average daily turnover of the previous week.
The average trade volume decreased by 11.7 per cent while total number of trades decreased by 6.4 per cent.
According to International Leasing Securities, the stock market sustained its downbeat trend for the three consecutive weeks amid zigzag trading throughout the week.
Following the correction observed mostly by major sectors, the market capitalisation declined 0.82 per cent to close at Tk 3.89 trillion on the DSE.
According to International Leasing Securities, indecisiveness and lack of confidence among the investors created choppy trading in the week.
"The enthusiastic investors have injected fresh fund to the sector-specific stocks riding on the news of growth of the country's economy at a rate of 7.86 per cent in FY 2017-18 which was 0.21 percentage point higher than the government's previous estimation," said the International Leasing Securities.
It said the selling of shares mostly from telecommunication, pharmaceuticals, engineering and fuel & power sectors contributed to the fall in indices in the week.
"The bargain hunters took position on lucrative price levels in life insurance, textile and food sector stocks."
Among the large cap sectors cement, life insurance and textile posted positive movements whereas bank, pharmaceuticals and telecommunication posted negative movements, according to another market review of LankaBangla Securities.
Top ten traded stocks captured around 45.7 per cent of the week's average total turnover, while Khulna Power Company Limited alone seized 12.7 per cent.
Among the major sectors based on market capitalisation, telecommunication declined 3.6 per cent followed by pharmaceuticals 1.8 per cent and fuel & power 1.4 per cent.
Of the gaining sectors, life insurance advanced 14.5 per cent, textile 3.0 per cent and food & allied 1.1 per cent.
The investors' activity was mostly focused on engineering sector which grabbed 18.2 per cent of weekly turnover followed by textile 17.8 per cent, and fuel & power 15.9 per cent.
Of the top turnover leaders, Khulna Power Company featured a turnover of Tk 4.04 billion, followed by Active Fine Chemicals Tk 2.27 billion, IFAD Autos Tk 1.55 billion and BBS Cables Tk 1.21 billion in the last week on the DSE.
In the last week, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed in red zone. The CSCX and CASPI indices decreased by 75.1 and 112.5 points respectively on the port city bourse.
Eastern Housing Limited recommended 25 per cent cash dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2018.
The company has also reported EPS of Tk. 3.48, NAV per share of Tk. 60.15 and NOCFPS of Tk. 9.46 for the year ended on June 30, 2018 as against Tk. 2.33, Tk. 58.87 and Tk. 12.03 respectively for the same period of the previous year.
