Dhaka stocks dropped on Sunday, falling for the third consecutive day, as investors opted to sell shares to realise gains from the recent price appreciation of the scrips, market operators said.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, decreased by 23.99 points, or 0.43 per cent, to close at 5,482.79 points on the day, after losing 61.66 points in the previous session.
The total turnover of the Dhaka bourse witnessed a decrease too on the day as a section of cautious investors reduced their activities, market operators said.
On Sunday, the total turnover of the Dhaka bourse stood at Tk聽622.25 crore, comparing with that of Tk聽664.28 crore in the previous session.
Market operators said that a section of investors chose to adopt a cautious approach, staying on the sidelines and closely monitoring market movements.
In recent times, the market did experience a positive surge after a prolonged period of bearish sentiment.
In the past 21 weeks, the DSE moved forward in only seven weeks.
Of the 397 issues traded on Sunday, 70 advanced, 297 declined and 30 remained unchanged.
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 4.82 points, or 0.39 per cent, to close at 1,202.70 points on the day.
The DS30 index lost 5.24 points, or 0.26 per cent, to finish at 1,937.11 points.
On the sectoral front, pharmaceutical issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by the food and engineering shares.
EBL Securities in its daily commentary said, 鈥業nvestors preferred to remain watchful and observe the market鈥檚 trend ahead of the announcement of the upcoming monetary policy statement by the Bangladesh Bank.鈥�
Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk聽27.90 crore changing hands.
Agni Systems, Beach Hatchery, Salvo Chemical Industry, Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa, Oimex Electrode, Sonali Paper & Board Mills, Heidelberg Materials Bangladesh, Aftab Automobiles and Intraco Refueling Station were the other turnover leaders.