Stocks in red: the week that was

The bearish trend continued in stocks last week as investors suffered lack of confidence amid liquidity crunch.

Investors staged demonstrations during the week as the DGEN dived below the 6,000-point mark.

The benchmark General Index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, the gauge of DSE, plummeted 110 points, or 1.82 percent, to end the week at 5,966.

“Investors were in sheer indecision as most of the measures adopted recently by the Securities and Exchange Commission to spur the market activities are yet to be implemented,” LankaBangla Securities, a leading stockbroker, said in an analysis.

Investors seemed to remain inactive, dampening the market activities, it said.

On Monday, the market watchdog assured the stockmarket investors that the central bank would increase the adjustment period of single-party exposure limit from December 31.

The bourses also urged the SEC to resume random money-netting instead of the existing selected money netting, and reduce the trading cycle period from T+3 to T+2 to increase the transaction volume.

Low turnover led the large institutional investors to take a break from trading, said a stockbroker.

It is a matter of concern that the value of trade is yet to increase, he said.

The week witnessed five trading sessions as usual, and among them two sessions advanced while three lost.

Of the 264 issues traded, only 39 advanced and 221 declined. Four issues remained unchanged.

Daily average turnover on the DSE soared 2.42 percent to Tk 326 crore from the previous week.

All sectors ended in the red in the week. Among major sectors, banks lost 1.90 percent, non-banks 2.58 percent, general insurance 2.31 percent and life insurance 2.01 percent.

Grameenphone, which represents the telecoms sector, lost 3.3 percent, while pharmaceuticals lost 0.22 percent, fuel and power 1.29 percent and cement 4.31 percent.

Mutual funds and jute sector were the only gainers last week as they gained 0.72 percent and 2.40 percent respectively.

Lafarge Surma Cement was the most active share of the week with 12.33 lakh shares worth Tk 78.47 crore changing hands as the SEC approved the rights offer of the company at one share against one existing share.

Grameen Mutual One, managed by Aims, was the biggest gainer of the week, posting 13.44 percent, while Monno Ceramic was the worst loser, plunging by 23.04 percent.

Source: Daily Star