Stocks inched up on Thursday after choppy trading, with turnover hitting fresh three months low, as investors mostly followed cautious stance.
Market analysts said the ongoing pessimism, liquidity shortage coupled with lack of market triggers kept investors mostly inactive.
After witnessing volatility throughout the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 3.01 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 5,505.
However, two other indices—the DS30 index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) – saw fractional loss.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 0.06 point to finish at 1,968 and the DSE Shariah Index shed 0.26 point to close at 1,281.
Turnover, the crucial indicator of the market, remained almost same over the previous session and amounted to Tk 3.52 billion which was 3.53 billion in the previous day.
A total number of 96,068 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 68.31 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE also declined to Tk 4,118 billion, from Tk 4,121 billion in the previous day.
The gainers took a marginal lead over the losers as out of 344 issues traded, 142 closed higher, 139 ended lower and 63 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
United Power topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 374 million changing hands, closely followed by BATBC, Monno Ceramic, Singer Bangladesh and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company.
Provati Insurance was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent while Southeast Bank First Mutual Fund was the day’s worst loser, losing 5.73 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange, ended slightly higher with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – advancing 22 points to settle at 16,881 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX, gaining 14 points to finish at 10,226.
Here too, the gainers beat the losers as 115 issues closed higher, 98 ended lower and 30 remained unchanged.
The port city bourse traded 3.62 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 100 million in turnover.
