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The Dhaka Stock Exchange saw slowing trade last week in what analysts termed a 'realignment' of the market. But trade on Jan 24, the last day of the week, rallied by Tk 1 billion from the previous day's trading, with all indices closing higher. The week started sluggish, with all indices closing downbeat Monday, led by banks, as investors focused on state-owned enterprises Jamuna and Meghna. The market remained closed Sunday for the public holiday.

Market analysts described the fall in bank shares as the result of retail investors reshaping their portfolios, with banks relegated to the back end of trading. "The central bank's initiative to investigate the declared net operating profit of banks for the year has resulted in investors taking a back foot on banking shares," said DSE chief executive Salahuddin Ahmed.

DSE indices continued their slide through mid-week. "Investors were changing their priorities on where to put their money, which was reflected on the turnover board," said an official from a broker house, preferring anonymity. "Banks were losing pace while more scrips in power and mutual funds were emerging on the turnover board," he added. Meanwhile, state-run oil entities Jamuna and Meghna witnessed a fall in their share prices over the week, as investors' interest in trading the shares increased.

Market analysts cited increased trading as well as the price level of the newly listed state-owned companies as reasons for the volatility. "Jamuna and Meghna, with their overpriced shares and increased trading due to investor interest, took up all the funds. This significantly influencing the volatility of the market," said economist Abu Ahmed, who teaches at Dhaka University.

According to market analysts, the country's prime bourse regained positive territory Thursday, but had still not stabilised. Again, the cause was put down to the price level and volume of trades in Jamuna and Meghna shares. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission asked the DSE to investigate potential cases of unlawful share transfer by brokerage houses, SEC executive director Farhad Ahmed told reporters Monday.

The request came after the market watchdog recently fined Globe Securities Ltd for violating securities rules by depositing a client's shares as a margin. The week recorded a 21.07 percent decline in turnover, standing at Tk 7.50 billion, from the previous week's Tk 9.51 billion. The daily average turnover also declined, falling 1.34 percent, to Tk 1.87 billion, from last week's Tk 1.90 billion.

Market capitalisation on the DSE stood at Tk 793.26 billion on Jan 21, slumping to Tk 778.33 billion on Jan 24. The benchmark DGEN or general index stood at 2951.91 on the first day of the week's trade, falling by 65.47 points, or 2.22 percent by the last day, to end on 2886.44. The DSI or all share price index closed at 2490.23 on the first day, declining 57.08 points, or 2.29 percent, to end on 2433.15 at the close of the week's trade.

Jamuna Oil, Meghna Petroleum, BRAC Bank, Ab Bank and Grameen Mutual Fund One ruled by turnover. Meghna Shrimp, Wonderland Toys, Wata Chemicals, B. Monospool Paper and Dhaka Fisheries were the major gainers of the week. Among the top losers were German Bangla Foods, UCBL, Fidelity Assets and Securities, Islami Bank and Purabi General Insurance.

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