Dropped by 24.30 percent, the turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) came down to Tk 534.50 crore against Tk 706.10 crore the previous week. On the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), the total turnover declined by 22.78 percent coming down to Tk 103.01 crore against Tk 133.40 crore the previous week.

Market analysts said the Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC) move, which placed the shares of five companies under spot trade, forced the bourses to witness low turnover most of the days in the week, as the SEC's initiative holds back the inter-category money adjustment facility.

On February 11, the SEC directed both the bourses to place Brac Bank, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), Dhaka Electric Supply Company (Desco), Summit Power and Eastern Cables under the spot market, without money adjustment facility, instead of public market from Monday.

The SEC, however, withdrew the directive on February 14.

"The five companies shares are considered as big issues in the market. The investors can buy or sell the shares of the companies in line with the inter-category money adjustment facility. But, the securities were traded for same day trading and cash settlement, without the use of the adjustment facility, during the spot market trade. As a result, turnover also fell during that period," said an expert.

On a week-on-week basis, the DSE General Index lost 3.20 points, or 0.17 percent, over its close previous week finishing the week at 1851.71 points. The DSE All Share Price Index, however, rose by 17.15 points, or 1.14 percent, to close at 1517.67 points on Thursday, the last trading day of the week.

The CSE Selective Categories Index fell by 3.16 percent ending the week at 2735 points while the CSE All Share Price Index declined by 1.33 percent closing at 4197.62 points.

Out of 263 issues, 236 were traded on the DSE and of them 112 gained, 107 declined and 17 remained unchanged. Out of 137 issues were traded on the CSE, 39 advanced and 84 made losses with 13 remaining unchanged.

On the DSE last week, the total transactions dropped by 26.90 percent. A total of 87,705,713 shares were traded on the bourse, while 119,976,834 shares changed hands the previous week. On the CSE, a total of 23,155,935 shares were traded against 26,300,371 shares the previous week.

On the premier bourse, the top ten turnover leaders of the week were Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), Brac Bank, Grameen Mutual Fund One, Pubali Bank, Dhaka Electric Supply Company, AIMS First Mutual Fund, United Commercial Bank, Lafarge Surma Cement, Square Textile and Mutual Trust Bank.

PGCB, the state-owned power company, topped the list of turnover leaders with 1,686,950 shares worth Tk 82.88 crore, accounting for 15.51 percent of the total market turnover.

On the port city bourse, the top ten turnover leaders of the week were Pubali Bank, Rupali Bank, PGCB, Brac Bank, AIMS First Mutual Fund, Lafarge Surma Cement, Grameen Mutual Fund One, Daffodil Computers, Square Textiles and Bextex.

Pubali Bank topped the turnover list with 115,970 shares worth Tk 11.41 crore.

At the end of week, the market capitalisation on the DSE stood at Tk 384,06 crore while the capitalisation on the CSE stood at Tk 310,58 crore.