Stocks edged lower on Tuesday, snapping an eight-day winning streak, with turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) crossing Tk 17 billion-mark after four months amid increased participation of investors.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 17.20 billion on the country's premier bourse, in a further buck by 12 per cent over previous day's tally of Tk 15.35 billion.
It happens to be the biggest single-day transaction since January 17 of this year, when the turnover totaled a record amount of Tk 23.85 billion.
Investors are relentlessly taking part in the stock market with fresh funds to enjoy the existing tax benefits ahead of closure the financial year, commented EBL Securities.
The stockbroker noted that positive expectations from the budget of next fiscal year also keeping investors busy in judging lucrative sectors for fresh investment.
After the previous eight days' gaining streak, the market opened on a negative note on Tuesday which continued till the closure as investors booked profit on quick-gaining stocks.
DSEX, the core index of the DSE went down by 10.85 points or 0.18 per cent to settle at 5,829, after gaining 329 points in the past eight consecutive sessions.
Two other indices also edged lower with the DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, shed 4.49 points to finish at 2,194 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) lost 3.95 points to close at 1,281.
Market operators said cautious investors opted for booking profit on stocks, which saw substantial gain in the past few days, particularly on financial institution and bank stocks.
The risk-averse investors booked profit after a recent price surge while some others were busy rebalancing their portfolios based on latest earnings disclosures, taking the market in the red zone, said a top broker.
He noted that the market saw a mild correction as investors took quick profit on financial institutions, banking, engineering and telecom stocks.
Top negative index contributors were Walton, Robi, Brac Bank, ICB, Square Pharma and United Power, according to data of amarstock.com, a stock market data analyst.
However, optimistic investors continued their buying binge on sector-wise issues as their sentiment remained positive, thanks to lower return from money market and easing virus worries, he added.
According to International Leasing Securities, the investors' profit booking sell pressure on financial institution, cement, engineering, power, telecom and bank sector stocks pushed down the core index.
However, the optimistic investors remained active on general insurance, food, textile and pharma sector stocks, said the stockbroker.
Among the major sectors, financial institutions saw the highest correction of 2.20 per cent, followed by cement with 1.50 per cent, engineering 1.20 per cent, telecom 0.70 per cent and banking 0.70 per cent.
On the other hand, general insurance, food and pharmaceuticals posted gain of 2.40 per cent, 2.10 per cent and 0.20 per cent respectively.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 365 issues traded, 215 declined, 103 advanced and 47 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco - the flagship company of Beximco Group- continued to dominate the turnover chart with shares worth about Tk 1.15 billion changing hands, followed by Prime Bank, BATBC, Saif Powertec and National Feed Mills.
Standard Insurance was the day's top gainer, posting a 10 per cent gain while BIFC was the worst loser, losing 6.67 per cent.
A total number of 244,463 trades were executed in the day's trading session with a trading volume of 574.02 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of DSE also dropped to Tk 4,950 billion on Tuesday, down from Tk 4,965 billion in the previous session.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended marginally lower with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -losing 28 points to settle at 16,894 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX shedding 19 points to close at 10,183.
Of the issues traded, 168 declined, 89 advanced and 32 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city's bourse traded 25.88 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 607 million.
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