Stocks extended their losing streak for the tenth straight week that ended on Thursday, as worried investors keep dumping financial shares.
Market analysts said the ongoing pessimism coupled with worries about Taxpayer's Identification Number (TIN) issue, Grameenphone (GP) issue and falling foreign portfolio investment dented the investor confidence.
The government asked the GP on Tuesday to pay Tk 125.79 billion in dues within 10 working days which weighed on investor sentiment.
This issue came to the fore at a time when rumours are doing the rounds that stock investors should have TINs from now on, said a leading broker.
The rumours spread after the TIN issue came up in a pre-budget meeting with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on Tuesday.
A DSE official, however, dismissed the rumours, saying that the NBR did not urge the bourses to collect TINs from the investors.
"Rather, the NBR just wanted to know whether it is now compulsory to maintain TINs for stock investors," he said.
The tax administrator actually ordered the insurance sector leaders to ensure that all their policyholders maintain TINs from now on, he added.
About the dues, the GP said through a web posting on Thursday that they did not accept the demand issued by the government, and has a responsibility to its shareholders to defend the company against all unacceptable claims.
Upon a thorough assessment, the company will determine the appropriate course of action, the GP said.
Following the news, GP share price slumped 5.0 per cent last week to close at 387.90 each on Thursday, the last session of the week.
The week saw five trading days as usual. The market suffered losses in two sessions while three sessions saw marginal gain.
Week on week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 45.59 points or 0.83 per cent to settle the week at 5,460.
DSEX eroded more than 490 points or 8.20 per cent in the past ten consecutive weeks.
Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 20.22 points to finish at 1948 and the DSE Shariah Index also lost 12 points to close at 1,269.
The total turnover stood at Tk 20.12 billion last week against Tk 14.46 billion in the previous week that saw four trading days.
The daily turnover averaged out at Tk 4.02 billion, registering an increase of 11.35 per cent over the previous week's average of Tk 3.61 billion.
The block trade contributed 3.10 per cent to the week's total turnover, where stocks like Square Pharma, Bank Asia, United Power, Monno Jute Stafflers and Mutual Trust Bank dominated the block trade board.
The shaky investors liquidated their holdings from large-cap sectors, particularly from telecoms, power, engineering, bank, pharma and textile sectors, which pushed down the market in the week, said the International Leasing Securities.
Telecommunications posted the biggest loss of 3.80 per cent, followed by engineering (2.0 per cent), power (1.70 per cent), banking (0.80 per cent), pharma (0.60 per cent) and financial institutions (0.30 per cent).
Only cement and food sectors saw 1.20 per cent and 0.30 per cent gains respectively.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell 1.12 per cent to Tk 4,072 billion on Thursday, from Tk 4,118 billion in the week before.
Losers outnumbered the gainers, as out of 350 issues traded, 189 closed lower, 124 ended higher and 37 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
The United Power dominated the turnover chart, with shares worth Tk 2.02 billion changing hands. The company accounted for 10.05 per cent of the week's total turnover.
The other turnover leaders were BATBC, Grameenphone, Monno Ceramic and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company.
The United Insurance was the week's best performer, posting a gain of 28.74 per cent while Aamra Networks was the worst loser, plunging 13.35 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also ended lower, with its CSE All Share Price Index -- CASPI -- shedding 141 points or 0.83 per cent to settle at 16,740 and the Selective Categories Index -- CSCX -- losing 91 points or 0.89 per cent to finish at 10,135.
