Stock Indices Fall Through the Week, Textile Sector Tops Turnover

All the key indices of the country’s main stock exchanges — the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) — fell during the week that just ended.

An analysis of DSE trading shows that over the five trading days of the outgoing week, the exchange’s benchmark index DSEX lost four points from the previous week to close at 5,413 points, against 5,417 points at the end of the preceding week.

During the week, shares and units worth a total of Tk 2,634 crore changed hands on the DSE, compared with Tk 2,250 crore traded in the previous week. The overall trading picture at the CSE also looked somewhat sluggish over the same period.

The downward trend was visible in the DSE’s other indices as well. At the end of the week, the DS-30 index of 30 selected good companies fell 18 points from 2,087 points in the previous week to 2,069 points.

The Shariah-based DSES index also fell three points to 1,048 points, from 1,051 points at the end of the previous week.

Of the 385 companies, mutual funds and bonds traded on the DSE during the week, the market price of 178 rose, 163 fell and 44 remained unchanged; 26 securities saw no trading at all.

The fall in share prices of leading companies such as British American Tobacco, Islami Bank, Grameenphone, BRAC Bank and UCB played a major role in pulling the indices down.

The readymade garments and textile sector maintained its sole dominance in weekly turnover. It topped the list, accounting for the highest 25.5 percent of total turnover.

The general insurance sector stood second with a 13.2 percent share, while the banking sector ranked third with 9.8 percent of turnover. In addition, 9.2 percent of total turnover came from the pharmaceuticals and chemicals sector and 8 percent from the engineering sector.

In terms of return, most sectors stayed in positive territory; the highest capital gain of 5 percent came from the textile sector. Ceramics gained 4.1 percent, information technology 2.6 percent and financial institutions 2.1 percent.

On the other side, the worst negative returns came from the jute sector at 6.5 percent, food and allied at 5.8 percent and telecommunications at 2.9 percent.

At the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) too, the downward trend in indices continued through the week. The exchange’s overall index CASPI lost 0.84 percent, falling from 14,576 points to 14,453 points.

Similarly, the CSCX index fell 0.90 percent over the week, closing at 8,879 points from 8,960 points.