Stocks slipped into the red in the outgoing week that ended on Thursday as investors mostly followed cautious stance amid ongoing bearish market trend.
Week on week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 31 points or 0.60 per cent to close at 4,938.
Market analysts said most of the investors remained worried about the recent volatility of the market and maintaining cautious stance while falling portfolio investment dampened the investors' confidence further.
The net foreign investment on the DSE has kept falling for the seventh straight month because of eroding investor confidence and the rising fear of depreciation of the local currency.
The net overseas investment was Tk 604 million in the negative as they sold shares worth Tk 3.18 billion against purchasing shares worth Tk 2.58 billion in September, the DSE data showed.
A leading broker said the investors remained anxious and adopted 'wait-and-see' approach despite the government took some market supportive measures.
The Bangladesh Bank has recently announced a fresh policy for providing temporary liquidity support to the scheduled banks for boosting their investment in the country's ailing capital market.
The government and the top mobile phone operator also reached a consensus over settling the long disputed audit claims amicably.
He noted that the government's recent market supportive steps apparently failed to jack investors' confidence up.
Prolonged bearish trend frustrated general investors, said an analyst, adding that since beginning of the year, indices have been on the downward direction, with some periodic upward movement, which failed to sustain amid confidence crisis.
The outgoing week saw five trading days as usual. Of them, three sessions edged higher while two sessions faced correction.
Two other indices also edged lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 14 points to finish at 1,755 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 12 points to close at Tk 1,136.
The weekly total turnover on the prime bourse stood at Tk 19.59 billion, slightly up from Tk 19.58 billion in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged out at Tk 3.92 billion, up 0.05 per cent from the previous week's average of Tk 3.91 billion.
International Leasing Securities said the investors remained anxious and adopted 'wait-and-see' approach despite the government took some market supportive measures as the overall market scenario remained gloomy in last eight consecutive months.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell 1.0 per cent to Tk 3,727 billion on Thursday, from Tk 3,765 billion in the previous week.
Most of the major sectors showed negative performances, with telecom sector posted the highest loss of 3.72 per cent, after gaining 7.06 per cent in the previous week.
It was followed by food with (1.99 per cent), engineering (1.38 per cent), non-bank financial institutions (1.01 per cent) and banking (0.52 per cent).
Only pharmaceuticals sector gained 0.01 per cent.
Losers outnumbered the gainers, as out of 355 issues traded, 193 closed lower and 137 ended higher while 25 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor in the outgoing week.
National Tubes dominated the week's turnover chart, with 3.49 million shares worth Tk 574 million changing hands during the week.
The week's other turnover leaders were Monno Jute Stafflers, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation and Monno Ceramic.
The port city's bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also ended higher, with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI - losing 61 points to settle at 15,022 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX - shedding 39 points to finish the week at 9,122.
