Stocks fell sharply in the last week that ended on Thursday, snapping a six-week rally, as investors adopted a 'cautious' stance following the release of the monetary policy statement (MPS) of the central bank.
Market operators said investors were also observing quarterly performance of the listed companies to pick the right stocks.
All the indices of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) slumped, with the major sectors, including banking and financial institution, witnessing price correction.
The broad index of DSE -- DSEX -- tumbled in the last week after remaining upbeat over the previous six weeks.
In the last week that featured five trading sessions as usual, the DSEX kept wiping out gains in four of the sessions. It closed in the green territory in only one session.
Week on week, The DSEX settled 2.17 per cent or 129 points lower at 5,821.
The Shariah-based index -- DSES -- also declined 0.83 per cent or 11.01 points to close at 1310.60 while the DS30 index, comprising blue chip securities, ended 41 points lower at 2007.96.
The turnover, however, remained encouraging in the last week. The DSE featured a total turnover of Tk 51.71 billion in the five trading sessions.
The average daily turnover stood at Tk 10.37 billion, 7.0 per cent up from the average daily turnover in the previous week.
According to the International Leasing Securities, the investors took a cautious stance to observe the impact of the monetary policy statement and the half-yearly earnings disclosures of the listed companies.
Some investors opted to book profits on the stocks that saw substantial price surge over the last few weeks while some others rebalanced their portfolio based on the half-yearly financial disclosures of the stocks, it added.
Of 350 issues traded on the premier bourse, 105 advanced, 238 declined and five remained flat.
According to another market review by EBL Securities, the premier bourse passed a sluggish week amid profit-booking selling pressure in large-cap stocks.
It also said investors took a watchful stance throughout the week. Besides, earnings declarations by several companies might have failed to meet the investors' expectations.
Financial institutions saw the highest price correction of 7.0 per cent followed by paper & printing (6.4 per cent), banking (5.4 per cent), life insurance (4.6 per cent) and engineering (1.3 per cent) and textile (1.2 per cent).
On the other hand, fuel & power sector rose 2.9 per cent, general insurance 2.2 per cent, telecommunications 1.0 per cent and miscellaneous 2.8 per cent.
General insurance sector dominated the turnover chart, seizing 15.4 per cent of the week's total turnover, followed by banking sector (12.9 per cent) and textile (11.5 per cent).
The insurance companies also ruled the gainers' chart. Of the top 10 gainers, seven were from the insurance sector.
Provati Insurance was the top gainer, as its shares surged 54.51 per cent.
Other major gainers were Asia Insurance Company,
Monno Jute Stafflers, Prime Insurance Company, Janata Insurance Company, Malek Spinning Mills, Purabi General Insurance Company, Monno Ceramic Industries, Paramount Insurance Company and Sonar Bangla Insurance.
The port city bourse -- Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) -- also saw all its indices drop in the last week.
During the week, CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI), Selective Categories Index (CSCX) and CSE30 lost 375 points, 219.18 points and 369 points respectively.
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