Dhaka stocks fell slightly on Tuesday after advancing marginally in the previous session, as a section of cautious investors chose to book profits, market operators said.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, decreased by 1.82 points, or 0.03 per cent, to close at 5,483.14 points on the day after adding 2.17 points in the previous session.
The key index on Tuesday started the session with a hike, but fell straight away and maintained the negative trend for three hours of the session.
Then it started to rise again, but maintained the volatile trading till the end of the session, ultimately finishing in the red zone.
The turnover of the Dhaka bourse decreased to Tk 564.41 crore on Tuesday from that of Tk聽662.24 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.
This hesitation stems from the absence of clear signs indicating a sustained upward trend, as well as the weakened market strength ahead of the announcement of monetary policy, they said.
In the past 21 weeks, the DSE moved forward in only seven weeks.
Of the 397 issues traded on Tuesday, 121 advanced, 221 declined and 55 remained unchanged.
The DSE Shariah index decreased by 1.56 points, or 0.13 per cent, to close at 1,201.86 points on the day.
The DS30 index gained 17.08 points, or 0.87 per cent, to finish at 1,961.37 points.
On the sectoral front, pharmaceutical issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by the bank and general insurance shares.
EBL Securities in its daily commentary said, 鈥楾he market witnessed a mild volatile swing as investors were active on both sides of the trading fence, while sellers ended up on a slightly dominant side by the end of the session.鈥�
Taufika Foods and Lovello Ice-cream topped the turnover chart on the day with its shares worth Tk聽23.33 crore changing hands.
DBH Finance, Orion Infusion, NRB Bank, Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa, Salvo Chemical Industry, Far East Knitting & Dyeing Industries, Eastern Bank, Gemini Sea Food and Global Heavy Chemicals were the other turnover leaders.