Stocks slipped into the red Wednesday, snapping a four-day gaining streak, as investors were cautious ahead of announcement of the central bank's next monetary policy statement.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) is scheduled to unveil the monetary policy statement (MPS) for the January-June period of the current fiscal year next week.
Brokers said the market witnessed a natural correction, as some investors intended to book the profit generated during the previous four days' consecutive gain.
"Upcoming monetary policy statement coupled with ongoing earnings disclosures of listed companies kept many investors watchful, taking the turnover below Tk 5.0 billion-mark," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm, seeking anonymity.
He noted that as quarterly earnings figures are hitting onto the screen, investors are carefully taking investment decisions on stocks.
The market was in a positive territory for a brief period and the key index of the country's major bourse DSE gained nearly 7.0 points within first 20 minutes of trading. But the rest of the session saw the index fall gradually. It finally ended 6.0 points lower.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 6.03 points or 0.09 per cent to settle at 6,200.68, after gaining more than 108 points in four consecutive sessions.
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) also fell 2.13 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 1,431. However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 1.51 points or 0.06 per cent to close at 2,304.
A bearish mood was also reflected in the trading activities as the total turnover amounted to Tk 4.24 billion, which was 25 per cent lower than the previous day's Tk 5.62 billion.
"Turnover fell 25 per cent over the previous day, indicates that the investors were staying on sidelines and observing the market movement ahead of the monetary policy declaration in the next week," commented the International Leasing Securities in an analysis.
Large-cap sectors showed mixed performance. Non-bank financial institutions posted the highest gain of 1.29 per cent, followed by food & allied sector with 0.50 per cent, telecommunication 0.38 per cent and fuel & power 0.10 per cent.
Of the 333 issues traded, 171 closed lower, 111 higher and 51 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Square Pharmaceuticals topped the day's turnover chart for the fifth day in a row with shares worth Tk 274 million changing hands, followed by Grameenphone, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, BBS Cables and Olympic Industries.
Alif Industries was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 4.67 per cent while Aziz Pipes was the day's worst loser, plunging by 3.11 per cent.
The port city bourse CSE also slipped into the red with the CSE All Share Price Index - CAPSI - shedding 6.85 points to finish at 19,150.
The Selective Categories Index - CSCX - of the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also lost 5.06 points to settle at 11,563.
Losers beat gainers as 120 issues closed lower, 77 higher and 36 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 6.96 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 325 million.
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