Stocks witnessed a mild correction Thursday amid volatile trading with turnover falling slightly as investors continued to book profit and reallocate their positions.
The market started with a positive note, but the positive sentiment faded away as the session progressed. Eventually, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended at 4,547.05 points, slipping 6.81 points or 0.14 per cent.
The other two indices also ended red. The DS30, comprising blue chips lost 1.29 points or 0.07 per cent to close at 1,726.43 points. The DSE Shariah Index shed 4.44 points or 0.41 per cent to close at 1,061.70 points.
The total turnover on DSE stood at Tk 6.32 billion, registering a decline of 1.5 per cent over the previous session's Tk 6.42 billion.
The investors' activity was mostly concentrated on fuel and power, pharmaceuticals and engineering sectors, accounted for 15.11 per cent, 14.36 per cent and 12.01 per cent respectively of the day's total turnover.
"The market declined for the second consecutive sessions as the upturn paused while the investors' made up their mind about the sustainability of the current Bull Run," commented International Leasing Securities, in its regular market analysis.
Leading financial stocks like IDLC Finance and LankaBangla Finance tried to lure investors' attention towards this sector while banks and insurance remained overlook, said the International Leasing.
IDLC Investments said: "The side way movement continued for the second day where investors continued to book profit and reallocate their positions".
"Market closed red at the last trading day of the week as investors preferred profit booking after gaining sharp in last two weeks," said LankaBangla Securities.
Meanwhile, investors continued to favor large cap stocks like MJL BD, Beximco and BSRM Steels which gained 7.92 per cent, 4.53 per cent and 4.84 per cent respectively, said the stock broker.
"Market once again reduced its pace, closing the week with some profit booking. The sheer size of the volume proves that, traders are only taking a pause following the recent upward move by the market," observed Zenith Investments.
Bank, cement and telecommunication sectors dragged the market with 0.3 per cent, 0.3 per cent and 1.0 per cent loss while engineering and IT sector posted 1.35 per cent and 2.23 per cent gain in market capitalization.
The losers took a lead over the gainers as out of 295 issues traded, 162 declined, 108 advanced and 25 remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
The trade was down by 2.84 per cent, but volume was up 2.22 per cent. A total number of 0.127 million trades were executed with 133.97 million securities of trading volume.
The total market capitalisation on DSE stood at Tk 3,036.88 billion against Tk 3,051.88 billion in the previous session.
Beximco Limited was the most traded stock with shares worth Tk 483.14 million changing hands followed by MJL BD, BSRM Steels, Khulna Printing & Paper and GP.
Khulna Printing & Paper was the day's highest gainer for the second consecutive session, posting a rise of 9.66 per cent while IFIL Mutual Fund One was the day's worst loser, slumping by 10 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also edged slightly lower with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - lost 5.99 points to close at 8,559.41 points.
Losers beat gainers 140 to 66, with 19 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 12.55 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 486.83 million.
