Babul Barman
Stocks inched down last week that ended Thursday, after remaining upbeat in the previous week, as cautious investors booked quick-profit on large-cap stocks.
Market insiders said most of the investors went for quick-profit on stocks that witnessed significant gains in the previous week, while some followed cautious stance ahead of national budget scheduled to be unveiled Thursday next.
The week witnessed four trading sessions instead of five as the market remained closed on Monday due to Shab-e-Barat. Of them, two sessions closed flat, one saw negative, while last session ended marginally higher.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 4.87 points or 0.11 per cent to settle the week at 4,388.01 points.  

"The market faced some profit booking pressure last week after previous week's gaining streak," said IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, in its weekly analysis.
After previous week's upbeat mood, the first session of the week started flat, as some investors went for profit booking, said the merchant bank.
The merchant bank noted that the profit taking trades dominated the market in the following two sessions. After the first three sessions of the week, DSEX shrank by 26.9 points. However, the bourse reverted into gaining momentum at the last session of the week.
"Market quickly reverted in gaining momentum at the fourth session of the week, riding on reversal in cement and investors' attraction on textile sectors," said the merchant bank.
The two other indices also edged lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 11.25 points or 0.65 per cent to finish at 1,707.97. The DSE Shariah Index saw a fractional loss of 0.88 point or 0.08 per cent to close at 1,076.59.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also edged lower with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, shedding 14.64 points or 0.18 per cent to settle at 8,240.29.
Trading activities remained low as the total turnover for the week stood at Tk 14.88 billion against Tk 16.35 billion in the week before as last week saw four trading sessions.
The daily turnover averaged Tk 3.72 billion, registering an increase of 14 per cent over the previous week's average of Tk 3.27 billion.
"The market turnover value reduced which implies that investors remained cautious about business activities in economy," said LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, in an analysis.
The stockbroker noted that the market will enter the budget week, which also kept investors vigilant about the policy changes and economic outlook in next fiscal year.
Overall activities remained confined on, fuel and power, engineering and pharmaceuticals sectors, where they captured 23 per cent, 14 per cent and 13 per cent respectively of the week's total turnover.
International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, said, "The cautious investors' booked quick profit in the middle of the week, while institutional investors were mostly inactive ahead of budget announcement for the fiscal year 2016-17 as well as holy month of Ramadan".
The losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 326 issues traded, 151 closed lower, 141 higher and 34 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor during the week.
Delta Life Insurance Company recommended 18 per cent cash dividend last week for the year ended on December 31, 2015. In 2014, the company disbursed 20 per cent cash dividend.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell 0.32 per cent last week as it was Tk 3,101.45 billion on the opening day of the week and it came down to Tk 3,091.49 billion on closing day of the week.
Shahjibazar Power Company Limited (SPCL) dominated the week's turnover chart on the DSE with shares worth Tk 596 million changing hands, followed by Lafarge Surma Cement Tk 513 million, MJL BD Tk 469 million, United Power Tk 441 million and Doreen Power Tk 353 million.
Zaheentex Industries was the week's best performer, posting a gain of 21.56 per cent, while Modern Dyeing & Screen Printing was the week's worst loser, slumping by 16.26 per cent.
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Source: The Financial Express