The prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) fell below 5,700-mark again Monday, after a single-day break, as risk-averse investors sold shares.
Market analysts said investors were mostly in selling mood, particularly on banking and financial institutions stocks while some were busy with rebalancing their portfolio ahead of earnings and dividend declarations.
Trading activities remained low as small investors were cautious about fresh exposure to the market, while institutional investors followed 'wait-and-see' strategy, said a leading broker.
The central bank's move to extend six months time for adjusting advance-deposit-ratio of the banks failed to attract investors as banking issues witnessed further correction.
The banking sector suffered the highest loss of 1.14 per cent with Dutch-Bangla Bank was the biggest loser for the second consecutive sessions, losing 6.52 per cent.
The market opened on negative note and the downward trend continued until end of the session amid modest volatility.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 19.24 points or 0.33 per cent to finish at 5,690.
"The prime index dipped below 5,700-mark again amid correction in financial stocks," commented Shetech Brokerage.
The two other indices also edged lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 1.46 points to finish at 1998 and the DSES (Shariah) index lost 2.05 points to settle at 1,308.
According to International Leasing Securities, the shaky investors sold financial stocks from the beginning of the session while price appreciation of few large-cap multinational company shares saved the index from further fall.
The stockbroker noted that the banking, textile, financial institutions, telecom and engineering sectors stocks witnessed selling pressure which pushed down the prime index.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 5.06 billion, which was 9.52 per cent higher than the previous day's turnover of Tk 4.62 billion.
The engineering sector dominated the turnover chart, grabbing 15 per cent of the day's total turnover, closely followed by textile with 14 per cent and banking 12 per cent.
A total number of 116,039 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 112.95 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE also fell to Tk 4,147 billion, from Tk 4,151 billion in the previous day.
The banking sector witnessed the highest loss of 1.14 per cent followed by non-bank financial institutions with 0.34 per cent, telecommunication 0.23 per cent and engineering 0.16 per cent.
Food & allied and pharmaceuticals sectors advanced 0.58 per cent and 0.28 per cent respectively.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 346 issues traded, 199 closed lower, 100 ended higher and 47 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Top ten traded companies snared 30 per cent of the day's total turnover with Monno Ceramic Industries topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 312 million changing hands, followed by United Power, Dutch-Bangla Bank, Singer Bangladesh and LafargeHolcim Bangladesh.
Safko Spinning Mills was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 6.43 per cent while Dutch-Bangla Bank was the worst loser, losing 6.52 per cent.
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