Stocks posted marginal fall last week that ended Thursday as investors followed cautious stance amid ongoing earnings and dividend declarations.
Brokers said some investors preferred to take diligent approach while some others continued selling shares, especially banks and financial institutions.
"The investors still lack confidence which is prompting them to book quick-gain rather than taking a long-term position," said a leading broker.
In a major development, the prime bourse delisted 'Z' category companies-- Rahima Food and Modern Dyeing -- from the main board as they were not in operation for more than three years.
The week featured five trading sessions as usual. Of them, three sessions edged higher while two ended lower.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 21.48 points or 0.40 per cent to settle at 5,337.
"Selling of shares mostly from banking, financial institutions and food sector stocks contributed to fall of indices," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
The banking sector posted the highest loss of 2.80 per cent, followed financial institutions with 1.75 per cent and food & allied 0.87 per cent.
However, some investors took position in the engineering, telecommunication and pharmaceuticals issues anticipating positive earnings disclosure.
Accordingly, engineering sector posted the highest gain of 3.66 per cent, followed by telecommunication with 3.25 per cent and pharmaceuticals 0.67 per cent.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also fell 2.31 points to finish at 1,904 points.
However, the DSE Shariah index advanced 5.70 points to end at 1,273.
According to International Leasing Securities, indecisiveness and lack of confidence among the investors created choppy trading during the week.
The stockbroker noted that the wobbly investors persisted their sell offs while some reshuffled their portfolio amid ongoing quarter-end earnings and year-end dividend declarations.
Turnover, another indicator of the market, also declined as total turnover on the DSE amounted to Tk 43.91 billion which was Tk 48.50 billion in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged Tk 8.78 billion, which was 10 per cent lower than the previous week's average of Tk 9.70 billion.
The engineering sector continued to dominate the turnover chart, grabbing 23 per cent of the week's total turnover, followed by textile with 15 per cent and power 11 per cent.
The market capitalisation of the DSE inched up by 0.04 per cent as it was Tk 3,868 billion on opening day of the week while it rose to Tk 3,870 billion on Thursday.
Of the traded issues, 199 closed lower, 131 ended higher and 12 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
BBS Cables was the week's most traded stock with 17.39 million shares worth Tk 1.66 billion changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were- KDS Accessories with Tk 1.25 billion, United Power Tk 1.06 billion, Bashundhara Paper Mills Tk 1.02 billion and Khulna Power Company Tk 1.01 billion.
KDS Accessories was the week's best performer, posting a gain of 39.86 per cent last week while Asia Pacific General Insurance was the worst loser, losing 13.36 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended marginally lower with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -losing 69 points to settle at 16,444.
The Selective Categories Index - CSCX - also fell 46 points to close at 9,948.
A new issue -- SK Trims & Industries -- made share trading debut last week. The new stock soared 309 per cent in the first trading day from its offer price of Tk 10 each.
