Stocks ended in red for the third running session Thursday with turnover dropped to 20-session low as investors' confidence evaporated over ongoing political turmoil.
The presence of investors was also thin on the trading floor and most of the investors remained reluctant to make fresh investments over political turbulence across the country.
Meanwhile, the market opened with a positive note and the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange - DSEX- gained 12 points within first 30 minutes. However, it declined rest of the session amid modest ups and down, eventually ended in red.
At the end of the trade, the prime index of the DSE - DSEX- ended at 4,230.72 points, shedding 37.93 points or 0.88 per cent from previous session.
The DS30 index, including blue chips also lost 12.23 points or 0.80 per cent to close the session at 1,503.78 points.
Turnover value on DSE went down sharply by 36.8 per cent over the previous session's value and amounted to Tk 3.66 billion. It was also 20-session lowest turnover value since November 3 last.
"Fear and hesitation dominated market sentiment in day's' session, causing a squeeze in turnover to Tk 3.66 billion level and thrashing the broad index DSEX to 4,230.73 points," said IDLC Investments, in its regular market analysis.
Gradually, a confirmation of trend reversal is building up in the market, creating nervousness among the investors, especially the late entrants, said the merchant bank.
"Sudden drop in turnover in last three trading sessions indicates that investors are still staying in the sideline and observing market movement," said LankaBangla Securities, a leading stock broker.
Moreover, intraday volatility of the index is making investors more confused about the direction of the market, the stock broker said.
"On the political front, confusion still remains regarding the imminent national election," the stock broker added.
Textile still ruled over in terms of turnover, accounted for 22 per cent of total turnover, while the most active stock was Delta Life Insurance, capturing about 9.0 per cent of total turnover.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 281 issues traded, 163 declined, 89 advanced and 29 remained unchanged on the primer bourse.
All the major sectors registered losses with telecommunications was the biggest losers with 1.03 per cent loss. Pharmaceuticals and banks retraced 0.93 per cent and 0.91 per cent respectively.
NBFIs and fuel and power also lost 0.75 per cent and 0.48 per cent respectively. Life Insurance and textile also lost 1.48 per cent and 1.47 per cent.
Activities decreased in the major bourse (DSE) where volume and trade were down by 29.97 per cent and 23.36 per cent respectively. A total of 0.101 million trades were executed with 92.48 million shares and mutual fund units were trading volume.
The market capitalization of the DSE stood at Tk 2,635.13 billion against Tk 2,651.99 billion in the previous session.
Delta Life Insurance continued to dominate the top turnover chart for the second running session with shares worth Tk 339.99 million changing hands followed by RN Spinning, Paramount Textile, Generation Next Fashion and Orion Pharma.
Standard Ceramics was day's highest gainer, posting a rise of 6.04 per cent while Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills was the day's worst losers, slumping by 6.25 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed lower, with its Selective Categories Index lost 102.97 points to close at 8,282.65 points.
Losers beat gainers 158 to 37, with 19 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 13.94 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 483.70 million.
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