Stocks slipped back to the red zone on Monday, with core index of the prime bourse dipping below 5,400-mark, as investors opted for profit booking.
Market operators said some investors cashed in on stocks with only five trading sessions remaining before the Eid holidays.
"The investors opted for profit booking, particularly in pharmaceuticals, food, banking and power issues, taking the market in the negative territory," said a leading broker.
Accordingly, pharmaceuticals posted the highest correction of 0.98 per cent, followed by food with 0.74 per cent, banking 0.43 per cent and power 0.25 per cent.
The telecommunication sector posted 1.12 per cent gain, after witnessing sharp correction in the past few sessions. The financial institutions also advanced 0.70 per cent.
The market opened on upbeat note and the core index rose about 43 points within first 15 minutes of trading. But rest of the session went down steadily.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 28.45 points or 0.52 per cent to settle at 5,378.
According to International Leasing Securities, the risk-averse investors went for profit booking sell-offs, especially on banking and textile sectors' stocks which saw significant price surge in the past few sessions.
The stockbroker noted that the investors also liquidated their holdings from pharma, food, ceramic, power and engineering sectors which contributed to the plunge in the indices.
The two other indices ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 7.75 points to finish at 1,884 points and the DSE Shariah Index shed 7.84 points to close at 1,228.
The bearish sentiment also reflected on the trading activities as the total turnover fell to Tk 6.48 billion, which was 21 per cent lower than the previous day's Tk 8.18 billion.
"Trading activities fell sharply over last session as the investors refrained themselves from investing ahead of Eid-ul-Azha," said the International Leasing.
The textile sector topped the turnover chart, grabbing 20 per cent of the day's total transaction, closely followed by engineering with 19 per cent and banking 14 per cent.
Of the 338 issues traded on the DSE trading floor, 200 declined, 102 advanced and 36 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 141,450 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 181.08 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE stood at Tk 3,816 billion on the day which was Tk 3,825 billion in the previous session.
BBS Cables dominated the turnover chart with 3.26 million shares worth Tk 395 million changing hands, followed by IFAD Autos, Shepherd Industries, Dragon Sweater and LankaBangla Finance.
Midas Financing was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 9.66 per cent while Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills was the worst performer, losing 9.45 per cent.
The port city bourse CSE also closed lower with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -losing 85 points to settle at 16,539 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX - shedding 52 points to finish at 10,013.
The losers beat gainers as 152 issues closed lower, 70 ended higher with 22 issues remaining unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 9.38 million shares and mutual fund units worth nearly Tk 328 million in turnover.
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