Stocks ended almost flat Tuesday after choppy trading as late hours selling pressure eroded most of the gains.
Dealers said the market closed flat as cautious investors booked profits of sector-wise large-cap stocks like Grameenphone, Square Pharmaceuticals and Brac Bank.
Following the previous day’s marginal gain, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) opened on positive note.
Within first 15 minutes of trading, the key index of the country’s prime bourse advanced more than 12 points while the CSE All Shares Price Index of port city bourse gained 4.12 points at 10:45am.
After first 30 minutes of trading, the key index of the country’s prime bourse rose nearly 19 points while the CSE All Shares Price Index of port city bourse advanced 21 points at 11:00am.
After 90 minutes of trading, DSEX rose more than 27 while the CSE All Shares Price Index gained 91 points at 12:00 noon.
But rest of the session eroded most of the early gain and DSEX closed 4.04 points up while the CSE All Shares Price Index gained 21 points at closing.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, settled at 6,228, advancing 4.04 points or 0.06 per cent over the previous session.
However, the two other indices closed in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips fell 0.66 point or 0.02 per cent to close at 2,244.
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) also lost 3.16 points or 0.23 per cent to finish at 1,370.
Turnover, the crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 4.66 billion, which was 2.42 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 4.55 billion.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 333 issues traded, 188 closed lower, 106 closed higher and 39 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Islami Bank topped the day’s turnover chart with 6.32 million shares of Tk 223 million changing hands, closely followed by National Tubes, Aamra Networks, National Bank and Brac Bank.
Rupali Life Insurance was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.95 per cent while Meghna Condensed Milk was the day’s worst loser, shedding 9.44 per cent.
The port city bourse – the Chittagong Stock Exchange – (CSE) also edged higher with CSE All Shares Price Index of – advancing 21 points to finish at 19,292.
The Selective Categories Index of the port city bourse -- CSCX – also gained 17 points to settle at 11,659.
Losers beat gainers as 135 issues closed lower, 69 closed higher and 37 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 10.52 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 307 million in turnover.
