Turnover drops to 7-week low

Average turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange dropped to a seven-week low last week as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach due to labour unrest in the garment sector and the precarious political situation.Considered to be the most important indicator of the market’s vitality, it declined 29.47 percent from the previous week to Tk 406 crore.DSEX, the benchmark general index of DSE, too, dropped 84.33 points, or 2.06 per cent, to close the week at 4,013.38 points.Political uncertainty and unrest in RMG sector led the investors to sell shares ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, IDLC Investments said in its weekly market analysis.“The market opened in the negative zone during the week amid the dispute among political parties regarding the coming election,” stated LankaBangla Securities in its weekly market commentary.“Although some buying pressure had been initiated that spurred a short-term rally in small and mid cap stocks, it could not be sustained till the end of the week,” said the stock broker, adding that large cap investors were not particularly in demand and got corrected with the broad index.The stockbroker further said that the short-term downtrend may run out of steam soon seeing that turnover has already reached its seven-week low this week.Of the 298 issues that traded on the DSE floor, 170 declined, 115 advanced and 13 remained unchanged.All the major sectors ended in red, with non-bank financial institution being the biggest loser owing to its 6.21 percent drop. Telecoms, power and pharma were the next worst performing sectors during the week, shedding 3.88 percent, 3.56 percent and 3.21 percent respectively.Banks, however, did not experience any significant movement during the week, but still registered a 0.63 percent loss.CMC Kamal was the top traded stock during the week on account of its transaction of 2.03 crore shares worth Tk 71.44 crore.Rahima Food was the biggest gainer of the week, posting a 50.16 percent rise, while Modern Dyeing and Screen Printing was the worst loser, slumping by 26.81 percent.