Stocks returned to the red territory Tuesday, after a single-day break, as most of the investors followed a cautious stance ahead of the national budget for fiscal 2018-19.
Market insiders said the investors remained cautious and adopted a 'wait-and-see' approach amid ongoing pessimism coupled with the upcoming national budget, which is scheduled to be unveiled on June 7.
"The institutional investors mostly refrained from injecting fresh funds due to concerns over liquidity problem in the banking sector while small investors were suffering from lack of confidence, taking the market in the red zone further," said an analyst.
The trading opened on a negative note and the downward trend continued till the end of the session with a modest volatility in the mid-session.
DSEX, the key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 21.39 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 5,391, after gaining nearly 23 points on the previous day.
"The market witnessed downbeat session amid lacklustre trading," commented EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its regular market analysis.
It noted that the risk-averse investors adopted a cautious stance due to concerns over the ongoing liquidity crisis in the banking sector and the upcoming national budget.
The two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell more than 16 points or 0.81 per cent to finish at 1,990. The DSE Shariah Index lost 5.63 points or 0.44 per cent to close at 1,262.
The participation from the investors stayed shaky due to ongoing bearish trend of the market and the total turnover on the DSE stood at Tk 4.38 billion, which was 22 per cent lower than the previous day's Tk 5.62 billion.
"The market again back to its negative terrain led mainly by textile, miscellaneous and engineering sectors," said AT Capital Partners, an asset management company.
Telecom, pharmaceutical, engineering and food sectors witnessed selling pressure while miscellaneous and fuel & power sectors saw buoyancy.
All the large-cap sectors showed negative performance except fuel & power which advanced 0.46 per cent.
Telecommunication stocks witnessed the highest loss of 1.44 per cent, followed by pharmaceuticals 0.61 per cent, banking 0.54 per cent, engineering 0.50 per cent, food & allied 0.40 per cent and non-bank financial institutions 0.22 per cent.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 332 issues traded, 179 closed lower, 100 closed higher and 53 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Berger Paints Bangladesh topped the DSE turnover chart with shares worth nearly Tk 196 million changing hands.
Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed lower with its All Share Price Index - CAPSI - losing 48 points to settle at 16,640 and Selective Categories Index - CSCX - falling 29 points to finish at 10,064 points.
The losers beat the gainers as 101 issues closed lower, 83 higher and 40 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The bourse traded 6.39 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 254 million in turnover.
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