Stocks closed almost flat on Tuesday amid volatile trading as investors were active on both sides of the trading fence throughout the session.
Dealers said some investors preferred profit booking on large-cap stocks that saw substantial gain in the recent upsurge, while some bided their time on sector-wise stocks, leaving the market in the red for the second day.
After facing marginal correction the previous day, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) opened higher amid rising trading activities.
Within the first 15 minutes of trading, the DSEX, key index of the country’s prime bourse advanced 21 points while the Selective Category Index of the port city bourse rose 15 points at 10:45am. Since then it started to slow down. After 30 minutes of trading, the DSEX advanced 2.21 points while the Selective Category Index rose 6.48 points at 11:00am.
After 90 minutes of trading, the prime index of the Dhaka bourse, advanced only 1.56 points, while the Selective Category Index of the port city bourse fell 4.10 points until 12:00 noon.
At the end of the session, the DSEX settled at 6,149 points, losing 1.81 points or 0.03 per cent over the previous day.
The two other indices also closed in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 8.06 points or 0.36 per cent to finish at 2,201.
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) also lost 6.04 points or 0.44 per cent to close at 1,366 points.
Trading activities remained encouraging as turnover on the major bourse amounted to Tk 12.03 billion, which was 4.43 per cent higher than the previous day’s Tk 11.52 billion.
Of the 332 issues traded, 127 closed higher, 157 closed lower and 48 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
LankaBangla Finance topped the turnover chart with about 11.47 million shares worth Tk 737 million changing hands, closely followed by MJL Bangladesh, FAS Finance, Premier Bank and Grameenphone.
FAS Finance was the day’s highest gainer, posting a 5.78 per cent rise, while Meghna Cement was the worst loser, losing by 4.89 per cent.
The port city bourse also closed marginally lower with its Selective Categories Index -- CSCX -- losing nearly 21 points to settle at 11,512.
Losers beat the gainers as 120 issues closed lower, 108 ended higher and 26 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse saw 23.97 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 587 million traded.
