The daily turnover on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) came down to one month low as investors were reluctant to take fresh exposure in the market.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 4.87 billion on the country's premier bourse, slumping further by 18 per cent over the previous day's mark of Tk 5.80 billion.
It was also the lowest single-day transaction in last one month since August 26, when the turnover was Tk 4.20 billion.
Market insiders said lower-than-expected dividend declarations by some companies coupled with fear of political unrest ahead of the upcoming national election held back the investors to take fresh stake in stocks.
The listed companies with their year-end in June started making dividend declarations for the year ended on June 30, 2018.
Meanwhile, Evince Textiles and Northern Jute Manufacturing Company recommended 'no' dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2018 which dampened the investors' confidence.
Evince Textiles, which disbursed 10 per cent stock dividend in 2017, recommended 'no" dividend after two years of listing with the Dhaka bourse in 2016.
In 2017, Northern Jute paid 20 per cent cash and 20 per cent stock dividend.
However, stocks rebounded on Tuesday after witnessing sharp decline in the past three consecutive sessions.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went up by 29.33 points or 0.54 per cent to close at 5,386, after losing 148 points in the past three straight days.
LankaBangla Securities said this upward shift in the index is mainly driven by significant positive changes in all the large-cap sectors except the cement.
Two other indices also edged higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 8.22 points to end at 1,891 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 7.90 points to close at 1,241.
According to market review of International Leasing Securities, the market rebounded as investors took position on the lucrative price levels in food, power, pharma and telecom stocks.
The stockbroker noted that the list of top gainers and losers comprised mostly of small-cap stocks whereas the turnover list was dominated by the large-cap stocks.
Among the major sectors, food & allied posted the highest gain of 1.03 per cent, followed by power with 0.78 per cent, pharmaceuticals 0.74 per cent, telecommunication 0.51 per cent, engineering 0.39 per cent and banking 0.24 per cent.
Of the 334 issues traded, 153 closed higher, 140 closed lower and 41 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
The investors were mostly concentrated on power, engineering and textile sectors, grabbing 17 per cent, 15 per cent and 14 per cent respectively of the day's total turnover.
A total number of 106,160 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 111.25 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE rose to Tk 3,866 billion on Tuesday which was Tk 3,848 billion on the previous day.
Khulna Power Company continued to dominate the turnover chart with 4.39 shares worth Tk 522 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were IFAD Autos, Active Fine Chemicals, Shasha Denims and National Life Insurance.
Global Insurance was the best performer, posting a gain of 9.85 per cent while Evince textile was the worst loser, losing 7.07 per cent further following the category change news.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also returned to green with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI - advancing 89 points to settle at 16,581 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX -gaining 57 points to finish at 10,046.
The gainers and losers were same as 10 issues closed higher, 100 ended lower and 31 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city's bourse traded 7.68 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 644 million in turnover.
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