Stocks ended almost flat on Wednesday after choppy trading as investors were active on both sides of the trading fence.
Following the previous day’s gain, the market opened higher and the key index of the major bourse rose more than 47 points within the first hour of trading. However, eroded all the initial gains amid profit booking sell-offs.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), saw a fractional loss of 0.80 point to settle at 4,839, after gaining 30 points in the previous day.
Two other indices, however, closed in the green. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, gained 7.13 points to finish at 1,656 and the DSE Shariah Index rose 4.70 points to close at 1,108.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 6.50 billion on the country’s prime bourse, which was 10.35 per cent higher than the previous session’s two and a half month’s lowest turnover of Tk 5.89 billion.
Market analysts said the cautious investors continued to book profit on majors sectors’ issues which saw substantial gains the past few weeks while bargain hunters took positions on lucrative stocks, taking the market in the flat territory.
Losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 355 issues traded, 169 ended lower, 134 closed higher while 52 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 160,677 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 261.60 million shares and mutual fund units.
The insurance sector continued dominating the turnover chart with Asia Pacific Insurance topped the turnover list with shares worth Tk 242 million changing hands, followed by Bangladesh Submarine Cable, Beximco, Beximco Pharma and Brac Bank.
GPH Ispat was also the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent following the news that the company will ship 25,000 tonnes of MS billet to China for $10.17 million.
Peoples Insurance was the worst loser, losing 10 per cent.
However, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) ended marginally lower with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—losing 23 points to close at 13,814 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX losing 13 points to close at 8,296.
Of the issues traded, 117 declined, 79 advanced and 47 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 11.32 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of more than Tk 290 million.
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