Stocks witnessed mild correction Tuesday, snapping a four-day gaining streak, as risk-averse investors opted for booking profit on sector-wise stocks.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 16.92 points or 0.34 per cent to settle at 4,862 points, after gaining 117 points in the past four straight sessions.
The market was in positive territory in the first 20 minutes of trading and the prime index crossed 4,900-mark, but profit booking tendencywiped out the early gains.
Two other indices also edged lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, shed 3.13 points to finish at 1,696 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 1.47 points to close at 1,131.
Turnover, the crucial indicator of the market, fell sharply to Tk 7.77 on the country’s prime bourse, which was Tk 33 per cent lower than the previous day’s mark of Tk 11.66 billion.
Market analysts said stocks retreated as cautious investors opted for booking profit on stocks which saw sharp gain in recent price upsurge.
DSEX, the core index of the DSE, soared 665 points or 15.77 per cent in the outgoing month riding on active participation of high net worth individuals.
Losers outnumbered the gainers, as out of 355 issues traded, 179 closed lower, 139 ended higher while 37 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
A total number of 170,532 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 239.72 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap on the premier bourse fell to Tk 3,687 billion on Tuesday, from Tk 3,698 billion in the previous session.
The Pharmaceutical sector continued to dominate the turnover chart with Beximco Pharma topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 627 million changing hands, followed by Beximco, Brac Bank, Grameenphone and Orion Pharma.
Low-profile companies continued to dominate the gainers chart with Anlimayarn Dyeing was the best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent while Shaympur Sugar Mills was the worst loser, losing 9.75 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended in the red with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—losing 49 points to close at 13,859 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –shedding 31 points to finish at 8,369.
Of the issues traded, 94 gained, 124 declined and 47 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 9.05 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 202 million.