Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) closed the week flat with a nominal correction in the broad index, breaking the gaining streak of the previous two weeks, amid mixed performance of major sectors.
The DSE stayed positive in the previous two weeks following the announcement of unchanged policy rate at 10 per cent on February 10 by the central bank for the second half of the current fiscal year.
The decline in the yields of Treasury bills and bonds ranged from 1.5 percentage points to 2.0 percentage points in recent auctions, which also created hope among market operators.
An increase was expected in investor participation in the equity market.
But the improvement in the macroeconomic situation failed to attract investors significantly last week.
The market closed the week's first session on Sunday with a marginal loss of 3 points in the broad index DSEX. The DSEX advanced marginally in the next three sessions and then fell in one session.
At the end of the week, the DSEX closed at 5200.37 points, with a loss of 0.02 per cent or 1.11 points.
Blue chip companies, including multinational companies, were not able to boost investor participation. Hence, daily turnover of the premier bourse remained below Tk 5 billion throughout the week.
Grameenphone had the highest contribution of 4.11 per cent to the weekly turnover, followed by Robi Axiata, Sun Life Insurance, Orion Infusions and Midland Bank.
According to a market review of EBL Securities, investors' participation increased a bit in blue chip stocks at the beginning of the week. But a selling pressure was observed later as investors opted to realise their short-term gains, which slowed the momentum of the previous two weeks.
However, the market cap of the premier bourse experienced a marginal gain of 0.79 per cent to Tk 6.95 trillion on Thursday.
Of the major sectors that experienced correction, the financial institutions lost 1.9 per cent in market value, followed by the food & allied sector 1.7 per cent, fuel & power 1.4 per cent and services & real estate 1.4 per cent.
On the other hand, life insurance was on the top of the sectoral chart of gainers, with a rise of 2.49 per cent in market cap.
During the week, investors' participation was concentrated mostly on the pharmaceutical & chemical sector, which grabbed 12.5 per cent of the weekly turnover, followed by textile 13 per cent, and bank 11.4 per cent.
If the sectoral P/E (price earnings) ratios are considered, it was observed that the companies of the fuel & power sectors were at the most lucrative level for taking fresh positions.
The P/E ratio of the sector was 5.05 on Thursday, followed by bank 6.36, service & real estate 9.93 and pharmaceuticals 10.45.
On Thursday, the market P/E ratio of the premier bourse was 9.71.
S. Alam Cold Rolled Steels topped the weekly gainers chart, with a gain of 57.1 per cent, followed by EBL First Mutual Fund, Shinepukur Ceramics, and Golden Harvest Agro Industries.
On the other hand, Midland Bank was the worst loser, having lost 22.3 per cent in the week.
mufazzal.fe@gmail.com