Stocks closed lower on Monday amid persistent selling pressure and sluggish market momentum. The prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) lost 16.18 points to settle at 5,220.67.
The benchmark index of the Dhaka bourse witnessed correction for the fourth consecutive session.
The blue-chip index DS30, comprising 30 leading companies, decreased by 5.16 points to 1,898.52, while the DSES Index, of Shariah-compliant companies, experienced an erosion of 4.13 points to 1,162.42.
Investor sentiment remained cautious due to ongoing market volatility, keeping most market indices in the red as the majority of stocks faced downward pressure, according to EBL Securities.
Meanwhile, the bourses have reduced trading time by 40 minutes for Ramadan, with sessions opening at 10:00am and closing at 1:50pm with 10 minutes post-closing time. The regular trading time is 10:00am to 2:30pm.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, on Monday stood at Tk 3.82 billion, down 9.53 per cent from the previous trading day.
A majority of the stocks witnessed correction. Out of the 396 issues traded, 98 closed higher, 230 ended lower, and 68 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Orion Infusion was the most-traded stock, with shares worth Tk 336.40 million changing hands, followed by Fu Wang Food, H.R.Textile, Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream and Gemini Sea Food.
On the sectoral front, pharma posted the highest turnover - 17.6 per cent, followed by textile 13.0 per cent and engineering 11.4 per cent.
Sectors displayed mixed returns, out of which paper and IT saw negative returns of 1.8 per cent and 1.4 per cent while Mutual Funds underwent 1 per cent correction.
Ceramic, telecom and cement gained 0.9 per cent, 0.5 per cent and 0.1 per cent on the Dhaka exchange.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) ended down with its All Share Price Index (CASPI) decreasing 22.82 points to 14585 and the Selective Categories Index (CSCX) decreasing 7.97 points to settle at 8843.
The port city bourse witnessed transactions of 1.55 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover volume of Tk 33.17 million.
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