Stocks witnessed yet another bearish session Monday, extending the losing streak for the three consecutive sessions, as investors were mostly inactive to put fresh fund on stocks.
Dealers said the market maintained the bearish trend as cautious investors refrained from making fresh investment amid ongoing liquidity shortage in the banking sector coupled with tension over the final selection of Dhaka bourse's strategic partner.
"Persistent liquidity shortage in the banking sector pushed banks' deposit interest rate high in recent weeks which lured many investors to put money in banks instead of investing capital market," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm, seeking anonymity.
Meanwhile, the board of directors of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) Monday reconfirmed the Chinese consortium for strategic partner of the premier bourse. The proposal will be sent to the securities regulator shortly for final approval, they said.
The market opened higher and the core index of the major bourse gained more than 48 points within first 30 minutes of trading, but rest of the session fell steadily. Finally it ended more than 10 points lower over the previous session.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 10.52 points or 0.17 per cent to settle at 5,940. DSEX shed about 162 points in the past three consecutive sessions.
According to EBL Securities, the market continued falling streak as participation from the investors remained timid due to liquidity shortage.
The stockbroker noted that corporate declaration from several issues in recent period could not entice investors to inject fresh fund in the market.
"Investors selling pressure was spurred on stocks, especially from pharmaceuticals, engineering and textile sectors," said the stockbroker.
Two other indices of the premier bourse also closed in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 4.61 points or 0.21 per cent to finish at 2,189 and DSES (Shariah) shed 4.76 points or 0.34 per cent to settle at 1,389.
Bearish sentiment was also reflected on the trading activities as total turnover on the major bourse came down below Tk 4.0 billion-mark and amounted to Tk 3.77 billion which was 14 per cent lower than the previous day's Tk 4.40 billion.
The textile sector dominated the day's turnover list, grabbing 16 per cent of the day's total turnover, followed by engineering with 14 per cent and banking 13 per cent.
Most of the sectors witnessed correction, with pharmaceuticals posted the highest erosion of 0.30 per cent, followed by engineering with 0.30 per cent, non-bank financial institutions 0.20 per cent and fuel & power 0.10 per cent.
On the other hands, food & allied and banking sectors advanced 0.60 per cent and 0.10 per cent respectively.
The losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 332 issues traded, 176 closed lower, 109 higher and 47 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
CVO Petrochemicals Refinery topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 187 million changing hands, closely followed by Unique Hotel & Resorts, Brac Bank, Keya Cosmetics and Monno Ceramic Industries.
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