Dhaka stocks gained for the third day on Monday as a section of investors kept buying shares at lower prices after prolonged downward trend on the market while many others maintained a cautious approach.

DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, gained 0.35 per cent, or 20.08 points, to close at 5,604.38 points on Monday. The DSEX added 115.78 points in the last three sessions.

After a positive opening in Monday’s session, the core index moved downwards but recovered soon to finish the session with a marginal gain as a section of investors went on buying shares amid optimism, market operators said.

The market has taken an upward move after falling to 5,317.71 points on February 23 as some institutional investors came forward to inject funds in the market, they said.

Besides, share prices of many companies fell to a lucrative level that attracted a group of investors to the market, they said.

They said that the investors’ concentration was mainly on a few number of large capitalised companies that raised doubt about the sustainability of the gain.

Among the prominent companies, share prices of Grameenphone, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, LankaBangla Finance and LafargeHolcim Bangladesh soared on the day.

Share prices of C&A Textiles, Emerald Oil and Familytex Limited continued gaining after the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission restructured the boards of the fundamentally weak companies to improve their business.

Of the 359 scrips traded on the DSE on Monday, 129 advanced, 107 declined and 111 remained unchanged.

Turnover on the DSE dropped to Tk 721.51 crore on Monday compared with that of Tk 876.75 crore in the previous session.

Many investors still remained worried as share prices of around 80 companies remained stuck in their floor prices.

The BSEC on March 19, 2020 introduced the floor price system to bar companies’ share prices from falling below a certain level amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

The market, which had gained around 1,045 points in seven weeks till January 14 moved downwards after the BSEC set ceiling on the margin loan rate at 12 per cent.

Besides, approval of initial public offerings of a number of companies within a short period of time and repeated changes made in policies by the regulator weighed on the market, market operators said.

Trading of the shares of Lub-rref (Bangladesh) Limited will commence today.

Average share prices of non-bank financial institution, miscellaneous, energy and engineering sectors advanced by 1.82 per cent, 1.7 per cent, 1.56 per cent and 0.95 per cent respectively.

DS30, a composition of 30 large capitalised companies, increased by 0.55 per cent, or 11.94 points, to close at 2,168 points on the day.

Shariah index DSES added 0.69 per cent, or 8.73 points, to settle at 1,265.2 points.

BATBC led the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 66.13 crore changing hands on Monday.

Summit Power, LankaBangla Finance, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, BD Finance, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Orion Pharmaceuticals, Grameenphone, GBB Power and Square Pharmaceuticals were the other turnover leaders on the day.