Dhaka stocks fell slightly in the past week, extending the falling streak to the second week, as a section of investors sold shares to protect their funds from further erosion, market operators said.
They said that investors were active on both sides of the trading fence, however, opportunistic investors sought profit booking.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, decreased by 4.99 points, or 0.10 per cent, in the past week to end at 5,192.59 points, after decreasing by 157.75 points in the previous week.
Investors were cautious as the earnings declarations by companies are going on, market operators said.
Also, higher bank interest rates are inspiring investors to invest in fixed-income options instead of the stock market, they said.
The daily average turnover on the DSE decreased in the past week to reach Tk 381.31 crore compared with that of Tk聽465.80 crore in the previous week.
Of the 390 issues traded in the past week, 213 increased, 126 decreased and 51 stayed the same.
Investors were mostly active in bank scrips, followed by pharmaceutical and food shares.
EBL Securities in its weekly market commentary said, 鈥楳arket volatility persisted throughout the week as sellers maintained their dominance, while opportunistic investors preferred to observe the market鈥檚 trend and sit on cash to look for lucrative investment opportunities following the corrections.鈥�
鈥楬owever, the market logged a slight recovery due to some positive sentiment following media reports regarding the central bank鈥檚 approval of the anticipated Tk聽30 billion sovereign-guaranteed loan to ICB. Nevertheless, profit-booking by wary investors soon eroded most of the gains in the final session amidst the waning market momentum,鈥� it added.
The DS30 index decreased by 2.82 points, or 0.15 per cent, to finish at 1,916.23 points.
Only the DSE Shariah index gained, by 15.33 points, or 1.33 per cent, to close at 1,166.89 points in the past week.
NRB Bank topped the average weekly turnover chart with shares worth Tk 15.70 crore changing hands per session.
Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Agni Systems, Midland Bank, Genex Infosys, Eastern Bank, Beach Hatchery, Alif Industries and Fine Foods were the other turnover leaders.