Stocks drifted lower last week that ended Thursday, snapping a four-week gaining streak, as cautious investors opted for booking profit on quick-gaining stocks.
Brokers said the risk-averse investors grabbed profit on large-cap sectors, especially from bank and telecommunication issues, taking the market into the red zone.
"Profit booking especially on heavyweight banking and telecom issues pulled stocks down as the market was bullish in four straight weeks," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
The heavyweight telecommunication sector fell 1.44 per cent as prices of largest market cap company Grameenphone's share price slumped 1.52 per cent to close at Tk 471.40 each on Thursday.
The banking sector issues also edged 0.20 per cent down as prices of 20 banks, out of 30 closed in the red.
The week featured five trading sessions as usual. Of them, three sessions ticked higher while two sessions faced correction.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 15.65 points or 0.25 per cent to settle at 6,307.
"The market witnessed trivial price correction in the week after four weeks price upsurge as the shaky investors went on selling spree," commented International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, in its weekly analysis.
The stockbroker noted that the profit booking was mainly initiated by the investor's selling spree on the bank and telecommunication sectors as these issues witnessed price surge in the last few weeks.
"In recent times' news regarding the bad loan in the banking sectors of the country also hit the investors' confidence in banking sector stocks," the stockbroker added.
The two other indices also faced marginal correction. The DSE 30 Index comprising blue chips fell 7.22 points or 0.32 per cent to finish at 2,270. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) lost 11.95 points or 0.86 per cent to finish at 1,381.
Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed higher with CSE All Share Price Index -- (CAPSI) - shedding 61 points or 0.31 per cent to finish at 19,509.
The Selective Categories Index of the second bourse of the country -- CSCX, losing 41 points or 0.34 per cent to finish at 11,804.
According to LankaBangla Securities, three out of five trading days last week closed green. However, the combined fall of the remaining two days outperformed the gain.
The total turnover for the week came down to Tk 38.32 billion on the DSE, which was Tk 49.74 billion in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged Tk 7.66 billion, which was 23 per cent lower than the previous week's average of Tk 9.95 billion.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell 0.50 per cent last as it was Tk 4,262 billion on the opening day of the week while it came down to Tk 4,241 billion on Thursday.
Banking sector kept its dominance over the turnover chart, capturing 27 per cent of the week's total transaction, followed by engineering with 14 per cent and textile 12 per cent.
Out of 337 issues traded, 169 closed lower, 153 closed higher and 15 issues remaining unchanged on the DSE trading floor during the week.
LankaBangla Finance topped the week's turnover chart with 24.93 million shares of Tk 1.30 billion changing hands, closely followed by AB Bank with Tk 1.26 billion, United Power Tk 987 million, Standard Bank Tk 975 million and Shahjalal Islami Bank Tk 896 million.
Padma Life Insurance was the week's best performer, posting a gain of 13.28 per cent while LankaBangla Finance was the week's worst loser.
