Stocks registered a marginal gain on Monday amid choppy trading as investors oscillated between profit booking stance and fresh position on sector specific issues.
The market opened on upbeat note and the key index of the major bourse gained more than 36 points within first hour of trading. But most of the early gains wiped out amid profit booking sell pressure.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the core index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, went up by 10.61 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 4,959, the highest in nearly one year since September 29, 2019.
Market operators said the optimistic investors showed their buying appetite on sector specific stocks in early trading while risk-averse investors opted for booking quick profit in later part of the session.
Five large-cap stocks - Grameenphone, Brac Bank, Beximco Pharma, LafargeHolcim and GPH Ispat-contributed most to close the DSEX green.
The risk-averse investors opted for booking quick- profit on sector-wise stocks which saw significant gain in recent price surge, said a merchant banker.
He noted that natural correction as well as profit taking was vigilant throughout the day's session.
However, lower returns on the money market, gradual economic recovery and strong regulatory actions against wrongdoers continued to attract some investors to put fresh funds on stocks, he said.
The securities regulator asked the mutual funds to disclose details of their investment in listed and non-listed securities in the quarterly reports to check anomalies in the sector.
Two other indices also edged up. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 7.07 points to finish at 1,723 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 1.64 points to close at 1,142.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, fell below Tk 10 billion-mark and amounted to Tk 9.76 billion, which was 5.0 per cent lower than the previous day's turnover of Tk 10.25 billion.
The investors took position on life insurance, telecom, financial institutions and engineering stocks which led the DSEX to remain in green, commented International Leasing Securities.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended higher with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)-gaining 55 points to close at 14,169 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX advancing 34 points to close at 8,542.
Of the issues traded, 112 gained, 125 declined and 32 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 16.60 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 312 million.
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