Stocks end week on downturn

The market ended the week with a downturn on a selling spree by investors. Market observers said investors were piling up for subscribing to upcoming IPOs, especially the long-awaited Grameenphone issue.On Wednesday, GP published its prospectus where it announced that the IPO subscription would open on Oct 4 and end on Oct 8.Thursday's trading left more than 70 percent of the traded scrips down on the previous day's close.Dhaka Stock Exchange's benchmark index shed almost 24 points, while turnover slumped to Tk 5.10 billion from the previous day's Tk 6.16 billion.At least, six IPOs and a couple of mutual funds are expected to float within two months, he said.Meanwhile, brokers blamed recent volatility for Thursday's downturn."Investors are quite nervous due to the fluctuating nature of the market," said an official of brokerage house Royal Securities.Trading fell into negative territory on the opening bell. It recovered losses in the midday session but fell sharply towards the end.Mutual funds lost after Wednesday's highs, although banks closed mixed with prices moving slightly.

Non-banking financial institutions (NBFI) also witnessed a depressed trend after rising Wednesday on the news of regulatory moves to double its capital base.Insurers continued to fall with fuel and energy shares following.DSE's benchmark general index, or DGEN, shed 23.88 points, or 0.79 percent, to close at 2977.72.The all-share index or DSI lost 20.11 points, or 0.79 percent, to close at 2501.70.The DSE-20 blue chip index fell 13.57 points, or 0.63 percent, to finish at 2108.74.Losers outnumbered gainers 171 to 53, while eight issues held steady.Beximco, the turnover leader, saw shares worth Tk 339.083 million change hands, losing 1.39 percent to close at Tk 282.Off-dock service provider Summit Alliance Port Ltd followed with a turnover of Tk 313 million, crawling down 0.05 percent to Tk 2250.25. Bex Tex's turnover reached Tk 216.413 million, closing at Tk 63.40, down 2.31 percentAftab Automobiles fell 3.27 percent to Tk 1629.25, with a turnover of Tk 208.123 million.Summit Power lost 2.22 percent to close at Tk 1282.50, seeing Tk 198.894 million worth of shares change hands.
Among other scrips on the turnover board—Beximco Pharma, AIMS 1st Mutual Fund and AB Bank lost.ICB 2nd NRB Mutual Fund and Bay Leasing & Investment Ltd rose on buying pressure.