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Share prices lost marginally in trading on the country's two bourses Saturday ending a brief rally as the markets reopened after the weekend, brokers said.
The stock markets lost in all but one session in the past week. The trading days of the week were reduced to four days because of a two-day opposition hartal.
Brokers said the share prices fell across the board because the investors were generally bent on selling their stocks for cash for investments in the forthcoming initial public offerings (IPOs).
They said there was good news that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had reportedly stopped a bid by the Premier Bank Limited to launch IPOs worth Tk 550 million through fraudulent practices. The move is expected to boost confidence of the investors in the market.
The brokers said some more IPOs from banking and insurance sector are expected to come into the market. This is also a reason why the investors are selling their shares for funds, they said.
There were more sellers than buyers in the market because many of the investors feared the market might slump further due to a planned opposition 36-hour hartal beginning Monday. Hartals stops production in mills and factories and retard economic growth, they said.
However, the markets saw thin trading because the investors were cautious in making fresh commitments.
Transactions were recorded only Tk 154 million at DSE and Tk 26 million CSE respectively in the day's trading.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) benchmark index lost 4.96 points or 0.28 per cent to close at 1762.12 while the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) benchmark index fall 4.08 points or 0.12 per cent to close at 3232.38.
The DSE-20 blue chip index declined 4.16 points or 0.41 per cent to close at 1954.61 while CSE-30 blue chip index fall 3.87 point or 0.12 per cent to close at 3065.84 points.
Of the 158 issues traded on the DSE, a total of 75 declined, 50 advanced and 33 remained unchanged while 1861001 shares and debentures changed hands.
In CSE, 67 issues were traded on the day, of which 23 lost, 23 gained and 21 remain unchanged.
Deltalife, BD Zipper, Lexco, Midasfin and Apex Foods are the top losers of the day.
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