Dhaka stocks witnessed slight correction both in indices and turnover as most of the major sectors showed mixed performance on the week's first trading session.
The institutional investors said the market on Sunday witnessed marginal correction as many investors booked profits after continuous rise in the previous three consecutive sessions on the premier bourse - Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
"Investors decided to book quick gain over the recent price hike in shares, which triggered the market to close in flat red zone," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
The market on the day started the session with a negative note and the key index of the DSE went down nearly 12 points within first half of the trading session while the last half recovered most of the early losses and ultimately ended in the flat red zone.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 0.48 point or 0.01 per cent to close at 4,672.39 after gaining nearly 81 points in the past three consecutive sessions.
The DS30 comprising of the blue chips also fell 0.96 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 1,756.81. However, the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) advanced 0.94 point or 0.08 per cent to close at 1,118.99.
"The market started the session in red, but opportunist investors went for position taking on fundamentally-sound stocks in the last hour which helped the bourse to close in flat," said International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, in its regular market analysis.
The stockbroker noted that some risk-averse investors opted to realize quick capital gain while the buyers' interest in stock positioning was also evident.
"Buyers' attention was attracted mostly by issues from tannery, engineering and pharmaceutical sector while IT, miscellaneous and general insurance sector witnessed selling offs."
Meanwhile, activity from the market participants stayed slow as the shaky investors remained watchful about future market direction, said the stockbroker.
The total turnover on the DSE came down to Tk 4.68 billion, which was 7.14 per cent lower than the previous day's turnover of Tk 5.04 billion.
In its regular analysis, Saheltech Brokerage said, "Following last trading session, the prime index - DSEX - ended flat as the investors booked quick profit and shuffled their portfolio."
According to the brokerage company, tannery industries led the top market cap gainers with 0.90 per cent gain while IT sector led the top market cap losers with 1.3 per cent loss.
Tanneries showed the highest turnover increase of 40 per cent while telecommunication showed the highest turnover loss of 68 per cent, observed Sheltech.
Of the 324 issues traded, 158 closed lower, 116 closed higher and 50 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Confidence Cement dominated the DSE turnover chart with shares worth over Tk 310 million changing hands, followed by Doreen Power, MJL Bangladesh, Brac Bank and Argon Denims.
The cement company stocks were also the day's best performer posting a 9.99 per cent gain while Evince Textile was the worst loser slumping by 18.86 per cent following its price adjustment after record date.
However, the port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) finished the day marginally higher with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - advancing 7.62 points to settle at 8,732.08 points.
The gainers beat the losers as 106 issues closed higher, 96 closed lower and 34 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 9.91 million shares and mutual fund units' worth over Tk 272 million in turnover.
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Source: The Financial Express