Banking stocks again topped the turnover list in the just concluded year although their dominance faded away, as investors bet more on fuel and power scrips, seeing a bright future of the energy sector.
The total value of banking stocks in 2012 was Tk 15,687 crore or 15.67 percent, down from Tk 39,114 crore or 25.06 percent of the total turnover in 2011, according to the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
Fuel and power grabbed the second position with a value of Tk 14,964 crore or 14.95 percent of the total turnover, up from Tk 12,404 crore or 7.95 percent of the total transaction value in 2011.
The fall in prices of the banking stocks can also be blamed on the downtrend in the market that continued for the second year following the price debacle in January 2011.
The daily turnover on the premier bourse came down by almost 63 percent to the Tk 250-crore level at the year-end from around Tk 670 crore at the beginning of 2012.
The banking sector cannot continue the profit growth that it earned in the previous years, said Akter Hossain Sannamat, a market analyst and managing director of Union Capital.
“Banking business was under pressure last year as earnings of most of the banks fell due to a contractionary monetary policy, a cut in capital market exposure, new loan provisioning rules and a sluggish business in the real estate sector.”
Performances of the banks will have an impact on their upcoming dividend declarations, said Sannamat.
On the other hand, both the performances and earnings of the fuel and power companies remained stable, he said. “Moreover, energy is a basic sector, which does not get affected by economic meltdowns that much.”
“Investors switched from banking stocks to energy on speculation of better corporate declarations, including dividend.”
Currently 30 banks and 14 fuel and power companies are listed on the stockmarket.
-With The Daily Star input
