The turnover on the Dhaka bourse came down to Tk 2.71 billion on Wednesday, hitting five months low, as investors were reluctant to make fresh investment in stocks.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, dipped further by 6.0 per cent over previous day's mark of Tk 2.88 billion.
It was the lowest single-day transaction since May 15, this year, when the turnover totaled a record low of Tk 2.56 billion.
Market analysts said institutional investors mostly followed 'wait-and-see' approach amid liquidity crunch while small investors were not confident enough to inject fresh fund, taking the market turnover to five months low.
The institutional investors are in hands-off position as they fear of the liquidity pressure in coming days amid soaring interest rates in the banking sector, said an analyst.
However, the market index ended marginally higher after sharp decline in the previous day as bargain hunters showed their interest in fundamentally sound stocks.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, went up by 17.94 points or 0.38 per cent to settle at 4,726, after losing 53 points in the previous day.
The DSE Shariah Index also gained 3.83 points to close at 1,084. However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 1.54 points to finish at 1,659.
International Leasing Securities said the investors mainly reshuffled their portfolio from December closing stocks to June closing stocks anticipating better return in the year-end dividend declaration.
The stockbroker noted that turnover dropped further, hitting five months low, as the investors preferred sidelines to observe the market.
Among the major sectors, engineering posted the highest gain of 1.40 per cent, followed by power with 0.80 per cent, telecom 0.30 per cent and banking 0.30 per cent.
The non-bank financial institutions and food sectors lost 1.50 per cent and 0.60 per cent respectively.
A total number of 98,395 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 91.50 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE rose to Tk 3,567 billion on Wednesday, from Tk 3,561 billion in the previous session.
Gainers took a strong over the losers as out of 352 issues traded, 202 closed higher, 88 ended lower and 62 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Grameenphone topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 169 million changing hands, followed by National Tubes, Standard Ceramic, Sonar Bangla Insurance and Monno Jute Stafflers.
Quasem Industries was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 12.34 per cent while CAPM IBBL Islamic Mutual Find was the day's worst loser, plunging by 9.0 per cent.
The port city's bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange, also edged higher with its All Shares Price Index CASPI-gaining 63 points to close at 14,384.
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