Stocks finished almost flat on Thursday after volatile trading as investors booked some profits with cautious positioning.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 4731, advancing 1.08 points or 0.02 per cent over the previous day.
Analysts said the market ended flat as a section of investor bagged profit while some others were busy rebalancing portfolio based on latest earnings disclosures.
“Some investors preferred profit booking on stocks that saw substantial gain in the recent upsurge, while some others took position on sector specific stocks, taking the market in the flat zone,” said an anlsyst at a leading brokerage firm.
Two other indices also inched higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, gained 1.37 points to finish at 1,647 and the DSE Shariah Index saw a fractional gain of 0.18 point to close at 1,082.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, fell to Tk 4.30 billion, which was nearly 24 per cent lower than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 4.30 billion.
Gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 343 issues traded, 162 closed higher, 131 ended lower and 50 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 129,128 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 187.64 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE fell slightly to Tk 3,567 billion on Thursday, from Tk 3,571 billion in the previous session.
Fortune Shoes topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 148 million changing hands, closely followed by National Tubes, Square Pharma, Paramount Textile, LankaBangla Finance and Kattali Textile.
Alif Manufacturing Compnay was the best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent while ML Dyeing was the worst loser, losing 15 per cent following its price adjustment after record date.
The port city’s bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange, also edged higher with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—advancing 12 points to close at 14,392 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –gaining 8.0 points to finish at 8,743.
Here too, gainers beat losers as 118 issues closed higher, 105 ended lower and 27 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 12.23 million shares and mutual fund units worth nearly Tk 258 million in turnover.
