Stocks end week flat amid choppy trading

Stocks finished flat last week, after remaining down in the past three weeks, as investors mostly followed cautious stance ahead of national elections.

Market insiders said most of the investors adopted a 'wait-and-see' policy ahead of national elections while lower-than-expected earning disclosures by a number of companies' frustrated investors.

However, lucrative price levels and positive support from state-run Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) in later part of the week helped the market to close flat, they said.

In a major development during the week, the prime bourse suspended the trading of Khulna Power Company from Wednesday just three days after a corporate sponsor of the company declared to sell 18 million shares.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) believes such a huge sell-off through the regular market may affect the general investors.

The week featured five trading days as usual. Of them, first three sessions lost nearly 54.36 points while last two sessions recovered about 55 points.

Week-on-week, the DSEX, the core index of the DSE, saw a fractional gain of 0.64 point or 0.01 per cent to settle the week at 5,259.

However, two other indices ended in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 6.36 points to close at 1,859 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 5.59 points to end at 1,210.

Total turnover, however, increased to Tk 26 billion on the DSE which was Tk 24 billion in the week before.

The daily turnover averaged Tk 5.19 billion, registering an increase of nearly 8.0 per cent over the previous week's average of Tk 4.82 billion.

International Leasing Securities said indecisiveness and lack of confidence among the investors amid rising political tension created choppy trading ambience during the week.

However, the news that the state-run ICB resumed much-talked investment in the capital market as part of the corporation's market supportive measure spurred the investors' enthusiasm for trading.

The textile sector dominated the week's turnover chart, grabbing 25 per cent of the week's total turnover. It was followed by power sector with 14 per cent and pharmaceuticals 12 per cent.

The market capitalisation of the DSE fell 0.51 per cent to Tk 3,812 billion, from Tk 3,831 billion in the week before.

Among the major sectors, power witnessed the highest correction of 4.48 per cent, followed by banking with 1.06 per cent, financial institutions 0.94 per cent, telecom 0.66 per cent and food 0.05 per cent.

Of the 340 traded issues, 159 closed higher, 162 drifted lower and 23 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor last week.

Despite trading suspension from Wednesday, Khulna Power Company topped the week's turnover chart with 11.44 million shares worth Tk 1.13 billion changing hands despite three days trading of the company's shares.

The other turnover leaders were SK Trims Industries Tk 786 million, VFS Thread Dyeing Tk 747 million, Intech Tk 658 million and BBS Cables Tk 604 million.

Saiham Textile was the week's best performer, posting a gain of 32.78 per cent while Stylecraft was the worst loser, losing 73.82 per cent following its price adjustment after record date.

The port city's bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), ended slightly lower with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -shedding 60 points to settle at 16,101.

The Selective Categories Index - CSCX - also lost 42 points to close the week at 9,753.

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