Stocks end week with poor turnover
Mixed performance of the sectors – owing to limited, or no, upside and the imposition of floor prices – left the market illiquid
Stocks ended a dull week on Thursday with low turnover as investors remained on the sidelines because of the economic impact of the Covid-19 and the reference floor prices.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 55 points – or 1.4 percent – during the week to close at 3,953.
CASPI, the benchmark index of the Chittagong Stock Exchange, lost 90 points – or 0.8 percent – over the week to close at 11,238.
According to the Weekly Market Review by UCB Capital Management Ltd, the index experienced shallow activities among investors thanks to the setting of floor prices.
Mixed performance of the sectors – owing to limited, or no, upside and the imposition of floor prices – left the market illiquid.
Meanwhile, macroeconomic performance has suffered due to Covid-19 in the recent months – keeping investors away from taking any fresh position, the review added.
The market witnessed one positive session and four negative sessions during the week.
Trading remained low during the week, and the average turnover stood at Tk138.4 crore – down 29 percent from the previous week's Tk222 crore.
In weekly average turnover distribution, the pharmaceuticals sector contributed the highest – 68.1 percent – to turnover, followed by the banking sector which added seven percent and the telecom sector which added 6.9 percent.
Most of the sectors posted weekly losses with the banking sector exhibiting the highest price correction of 2.5 percent. The miscellaneous stocks exhibited the highest price appreciation of 0.2 percent during the week.
Among the other large-cap sectors, textiles stocks lost 0.6 percent and pharmaceuticals lost 0.2 percent – while telecom stocks remained flat on the weekly sector return board.
Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd was the most-traded stock of the week with a closing price of Tk172.5 per share. Its weekly turnover was Tk67.1 crore, according to the DSE website.
Beximco Synthetics Ltd topped the weekly gainers' table by gaining 53.1 percent, closing at Tk4.9 per share. Mercantile Bank Ltd, on the other hand, was the week's worst loser as it dropped 16.5 percent and closed at Tk10.6 per share.
