Stocks finished almost flat on Monday as late hours selling pressure wiped most of the early gains.
The market started on a positive note and maintained a balanced movement till the third hour, but fell sharply during the last hour of the session.
Finally, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,339, advancing 3.16 points or 0.05 per cent after losing 22.15 points in the previous day.
Market insiders said the risk-averse investors sold shares in the later part of the session amid ongoing earnings declarations.
"As quarterly earnings figures are hitting onto the screen, investors are carefully taking investment decisions," said a leading broker.
Grameenphone (GP), the lone listed mobile phone company, disclosed April-June, 2018 earnings results on Monday, recommending 125 per cent interim cash dividend for the half year ended on June 30, 2018.
The company's earnings per share (EPS) increased to Tk 8.0 in the April-June quarter from Tk 5.87 of the same quarter a year ago.
In the six months for January-June, 2018, the company's EPS was Tk 12.74 as against Tk 10.72 for January-June, 2017.
Following the dividend declaration, the company's share price rose 1.28 per cent to close at Tk 388 each on the DSE.
According to LankaBangla Securities, the positive change in the index is mainly driven by significant positive movement in telecommunication sector.
Among the major sectors, the telecommunication and banking showed positive movement with 1.27 per cent and 0.22 per cent gains respectively.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also advanced 2.08 points or 0.10 per cent to finish at 1,897.
However, the DSE Shariah Index saw a fractional loss of 0.51 point to close at 1,265.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also fell and the total turnover amounted to Tk 8.73 billion on the country's major bourse against Tk 9.55 billion on the previous day.
International Leasing Securities said some optimistic investors took position on telecom and banking stocks amid ongoing earnings and dividend declarations.
However, some shaky investors opted to book profits on stocks that saw substantial gain in the past few days in later part of the session, said the stockbroker.
Power, pharmaceuticals, food & allied and financial institutions sectors fell 0.34 per cent, 0.30 per cent, 0.14 per cent and 0.07 per cent respectively.
Of the total 340 issues traded on the DSE trading floor, 144 advanced, 139 declined and 57 issues remained unchanged.
A total of 182,820 trades were executed in the day's trading session on the DSE with trading volume of 183.08 million securities.
KDS Accessories topped the DSE turnover leaders with 3.57 million shares worth Tk 335 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were Khulna Power Company, Grameenphone, The Peninsula Chittagong and BBS Cables.
Rupali Life Insurance was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 9.90 per cent while BD Autocars was the worst loser, losing 7.92 per cent.
However, the port city bourse CSE edged lower with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI - shedding 4.90 points to settle at 16,447 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX - losing 8.20 points to finish at 9,947.
The losers beat gainers as 140 issues closed lower, 95 ended higher, with 26 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 11.56 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 448 million in turnover.
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