Bourses witnessed widespread profit-booking last week when the insurance stocks rose the most thanks to a regulatory move on minimum shareholding compliance.

DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), dropped 73.14 points, or 1.24 per cent, during the week.

Meanwhile, insurance stocks went upward riding on news that the regulator issued letters to all the companies to maintain a paid-up capital of Tk 30-40 crore.

Almost all the top gainers were from the insurance sector. For instance, Agrani Insurance rose 21.9 per cent in the week followed by Provati Insurance and Islami Insurance.

The Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority asked all insurance companies to comply with the minimum shareholding rule of 60 per cent by the sponsors in their respective companies and maintain a minimum paid-up capital of Tk 30-40 crore in a month.

After this the insurance stocks started rising. Among listed 49 insurance stocks, 37 advanced and 12 declined in the last week.

The IDRA's circular impacted the insurance stocks positively, which saved the index from a massive fall, a stock broker said.

The market fell because of the profit-booking tendency among all sectors while the high market capital-based insurance sector impacted the index positively, he added.

Insurance sector market capitalisation rose 1.6 per cent in the last week, according to the weekly market review of UCB Capital Management.

In the last few weeks, insurance stocks have been declining after experiencing a continuous rise for a long time. However, the IDRA's circular helped it to gain again, the stock broker said.

In the last week, junk stocks got a hit so most of the low-performing companies' stocks were red. Alltex Industries shed the most, falling 16.9 per cent followed by LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, Alif Manufacturing, Appollo Ispat, and Jute Spinners.

Investors got a lesson from the stock market regulators' step towards United Airways, said a merchant banker.

On January 12, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) ordered the Dhaka and Chattogram stock exchanges to transfer United Airways to the over-the-counter board from the main trading board.

As the company has not been operating since March of 2016 and has little potential to restart operation, the regulator delisted it from the main trading board.

Some other companies are also there in the market, which traded at a higher value but they are incurring losses for many years, for which the investors fear the same thing will happen with those also, the merchant banker said.

This fear is necessary to tame junk stocks, which are victims of gambling in many cases, he added.

Meanwhile, the DSE's average daily turnover, another important indicator of the market, dropped 16.25 per cent to Tk 1,565 crore in the last week.

The fuel and power sector dominated the turnover chart, covering 14.3 per cent of the total turnover.