Stocks drifted lower Tuesday, snapping a three-day winning streak, as risk-averse investors opted to book quick gains, particularly on bank issues.
Market operators said some investors preferred to book profits on stocks that saw substantial gains in the past three days' upsurge, taking the core index below 5,800-mark once again.
"Retail investors went for booking profits, especially on banking sector issues, which triggered a selling pressure in the market," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
The heavyweight banking sector posted the highest correction of 1.31 per cent as share prices of 26 banks closed lower, out of 30 listed banks.
After witnessing volatility in the first three hours of trading, the index fell sharply in the final hour, eventually ending more than 37 points lower.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,790 points, shedding 37.23 points or 0.63 per cent after gaining 339 points in the past three consecutive days.
"The market closed red due to profit taking tendency of the investors led by mainly banks, pharmaceuticals and telecom sectors," commented AT Capital Partners, an asset management company.
The two other indices also finished lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, went down by 10.72 points or 0.49 per cent to close at 2,166 points. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) fell 4.54 points or 0.33 per cent to close at 1,351 points.
According to International Leasing Securities, "The market witnessed selling pressure from the beginning of the session and continued till the end, though there were some attempts of intraday reversal in the middle of the session".
The stockbroker noted that the investors booked profits on shares, especially on bank, textile, pharmaceutical, telecom and food sectors that witnessed price surge during the last few days' uptrend.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also fell 7.34 per cent to Tk 5.55 billion against Tk 5.99 billion in the previous day.
The banking sector dominated the turnover chart, grabbing 18 per cent of the day's total turnover, followed by engineering with 15 per cent and pharmaceuticals 13 per cent.
Most of the large-cap sectors showed negative performance with banking sector posted the highest loss of 1.31 per cent, followed by pharmaceuticals 0.51 per cent, telecommunication 0.50 per cent, food & allied 0.41 per cent and power 0.22 per cent.
The engineering and non-bank financial institutions sectors managed to close 0.58 per cent and 0.26 per cent higher respectively.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 336 issues traded on the day, 218 declined, 91 advanced and 27 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
Beximco dominated the turnover chart for the third straight day with 5.57 million shares worth Tk 150 million changing hands, followed by IFAD Autos, Beximco Pharma, City Bank and Lafarge-Holcim.
Monno Jute Stafflers was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 7.49 per cent while Nitol Insurance was the worst loser, losing 8.36 per cent.
Port city bourse CSE also backed to red with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI - shedding 132 points to settle at 17,848 points and Selective Categories Index - CSCX -losing 80 points to finish at 10,788 points.
The losers beat the gainers as 143 issues closed lower, 75 ended higher and 17 issues remained unchanged.
The port city bourse traded 11.04 million shares and mutual fund units worth nearly Tk 299 million in turnover.
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