Stocks posted marginal gain on Sunday with falling turnover value as investors went on late hours buying binge on sector specific issues.
Dealers said despite the market returned to green, most of the investors adopted cautious stance as the national parliamentary elections nears.
"Poor turnover and low trading volume reflected that the investors were not confident enough to inject fresh funds in the market ahead of national elections," said a leading broker, seeking anonymity.
The market opened on positive note and the morning positive vibe persisted till the closure amid choppy trading.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,290, advancing 9.52 points or 0.18 per cent over the previous day.
EBL Securities said a section of investors showed their buying appetite on engineering, power and financial institutions, taking the core index marginally higher.
The DSE Shariah Index also advanced 2.84 points to close at 1,226.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, however, was under the selling pressure, falling 6.08 points to finish at 1,855.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, however, fell to Tk 5.76 billion, which was nearly 22 per cent lower than the previous day's Tk 7.35 billion.
According to International Leasing Securities, the optimistic investors' active presence in the final hour helped the bourse to close in green.
The port city bourse CSE also ended slightly higher with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -advancing 44 points to settle at 16,226 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX -gaining 26 point to finish at 9,837.
The gainers beat losers as 122 issues closed higher, 69 ended lower and 32 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 10.53 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 258 million in turnover.
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