Stocks stay positive for second straight week

Stocks posted marginal gain last week that ended Thursday. 

The week featured four trading sessions instead of five as the market remained closed Monday due to May Day. Of them, two sessions faced correction while two closed positive.

Week-on-week, DSEX went up slightly by 6.29 points or 0.11 per cent to settle the week at 5,540.70.

The DSE Shariah Index also advanced 1.14 points or 0.09 per cent to finish at 1,275.08. However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, remained in the red, shedding 1.0 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 2,033.72.

The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also edged up with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, advancing 8.65 points or 0.08 per cent to close at 10,416.

The total turnover for the week stood at Tk 28.42 billion, falling 1.43 per cent over the previous week's Tk 28.83 billion as last week saw four trading sessions instead of five while block trade contributed 0.80  per cent to the total weekly turnover.

The daily turnover averaged at Tk 7.10 billion, which was more than 23 per cent higher than the previous week's average of Tk 5.76 billion.

The bank sector kept its dominance in turnover chart for the sixth straight week, capturing nearly 18 cent of the week's total turnover value, closely followed by non-bank financial institutions 16 per cent and power 14 per cent.

International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, said, "Stocks witnessed marginal gain last week as the investors continued their buying spree on large-cap stocks especially from bank sector".

The stockbroker noted that the shaky investors opted to book profit while the opportunist investors preferred to rebalance their portfolio after the completion of most of the companies' quarter-end earnings disclosure.

"The finance minister's latest comments that the government may cut corporate tax from the coming fiscal year also tempted the optimistic investors to remain active in the market," said the stockbroker.

Sheltech Brokerage said the week started with a sharp fall in the index due to severe sell pressure of large-cap stocks as they declared poor earnings in third-quarter. Later, post-correction buying opportunities brought confidence in the investors, resulting in an index slow recovery.

A total of 18 listed companies, including four banks, recommended dividend last week for the year ended on December 31, 2016.

However, most of the traded issues price closed in the red. Out of 331 issues traded, 183 closed lower, 131 closed higher and 17 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

The total market capitalisation of the DSE also advanced 0.20 per cent last week as it was Tk 3,737 billion on the opening day of the week, while it came down to Tk 3,745 billion on closing day of the week.

United Power Generation and Distribution Company dominated the week's turnover chart with about 19.46 million shares of Tk 1.33 billion changing hands, closely followed by LankaBangla Finance Tk 1.02 billion, Shahjibazar Power Tk 874 million, Saif Powertec Tk 812 million and Bangladesh Finance and Investment Tk 668 million.