DSE turnover sinks 7% as investors cautious

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) experienced a marginal correction in its average turnover and indices as cautious investors opted for profit-booking in the last week.

The entire week's total turnover of the country's premier bourse declined by 6.91% to Tk2,840 crore in five sessions compared to Tk3,050 crore in the previous week.

According to market insiders, the core index of the bourse dropped 29.2 points in the first three sessions of the week as the majority of the listed companies showed dismal earnings in the latest quarter and the prevailing macroeconomic challenges.

But the indices recovered 27.68 points in the last two sessions of the week on the International Monetary Fund's approval of a $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh.

Besides, the Bangladesh Bank reduced the provision from 2% to 1% against loans given to intermediary brokerage firms, merchant banks, and stock dealers to increase banks' participation in stock market investment, they added.

The nine manufacturing companies captured the gainer position in the last week, where Olympic Industries gained 13.94%, Orion Infusion 10.82%, and Gemini Sea Food 10.67%.

Aamra Technologies, Pragati Life Insurance, and eGeneration Limited, on the other hand, lost 10.37%, 10.15%, and 9.90%, respectively, to top the losers list. Genex Infosys, Bashundhara Paper Mills, Eastern Housing, Aamra Networks, and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation were on top of the turnover rally.

Investors were mostly active in the IT sector, followed by the pharmaceutical sector, the life insurance sector, and the service sector.

Sectors again ended mixed this week, with the service sector gaining 4.6% to become the top sectoral gainer and life insurance standing as the biggest loser, shedding 2.6% in its market capitalisation.

According to EBL Securities' weekly report commentary, the capital bourse's benchmark index experienced a marginal correction, snapping a three-week gaining streak, as investors rebalanced their portfolios in response to the most recent quarter's earnings disclosures.

According to the EBL report, investors chose profit-taking after the majority of listed companies reported dismal earnings in the most recent quarter, owing primarily to the prevailing macroeconomic challenges, causing the core index to fall 29.2 points in the first three sessions of the week.

However, investors showed their buying interest in sector-specific issues whose performance was not affected by recent macroeconomic adversities and provided a modest recovery to the market in the last two sessions of the week.