Dhaka stocks finished marginally lower yesterday as shares of most sectors slipped amid investors' concentration on the market heavyweight, Titas Gas.

Share prices of the state run Titas Gas surged 16.99 percent to Tk 382 amid buying pressure, which also helped the company offload a total of 82.86 lakh shares till August 7.

Titas will now be required to sell about 3 lakh shares to the public by the deadline of August 13 to reach a minimum of 10 percent or about 86 lakh share-selling requirement, according to rules.

“It is the interest of the investors that has helped us complete the sale of almost all the shares," said Md Iftikhar-uz-zaman, chief executive of ICB Capital Management, the issue manager ofTitas Gas.

Titas Gas was listed on the stock exchanges early last month for selling 2.14 crore shares to the public.

Iftikhar said investors started to buy Titas shares after they realised the price of gas distribution would not go belowTk300.

"The sale ofTitas shares indicates that the market has the depth to absorb such a big issue within a short time," he said.

The market climbed during the morning trade, sending the benchmark General Index to 2754 point. The situation reversed later pushing the index down to the day's low of 2727 points. It recovered some points after midday but again, closed a bit lower.

The benchmark DSE General Index shed 2.69 points or 0.09 percent to 2732.01. The DSE All Share Prices Index declined 5.78 points or 0.24 percent to 2345.60. Ilie blue chip index DSE-20 closed at 2490.63, down 8.64 points or 0.34 percent from the previous day.

Banking stocks finished with mixed outcomes, while financial institutions and insurance issues declined.

Pharmaceuticals, power fuel and cement sector issues also declined.

Almost all of the mutual funds, trading of which resumed yesterday, declined led by AIMS 1st Mutual Fund, ending 13.21 percent lower at Tkl2.15.

Turnover, however, rose to Tk 273.35 crore from Tk.251.38 crore from the previous day, with Titas ruling the turnover board.

AIMS 1st MF, Beximco, Beximco Pharma and Grameen 1 Mutual Fund were next to Titas. Beximco, Beximco Pharma and Grameen 1 dropped.

On the Chittagong Stock Exchange, the main CSE All Share Price Index and CSE-30 index dropped slightly but the CSE Selective Categories Index advanced.

Turnover on the bourse also increased to Tk 37.32 crore from Tk 31.95 crore.

A total of 30 issues gained on the CSE. Some 102 lost and four remained stable.