Stocks closed flat amid heavy volatility yesterday, after one-day rise as investors continued to fret over the prolonged political unrest.
The market moved significantly between red and green as the days wore on with intra-day volatility was more than 30 points.
The benchmark index DSEX began on positive note but then the day closed marginally 1.8 points to settle at 4,802.
The Shariah index DSES inched 2.8 points or 0.3% to 1,133. The comprising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,786, losing fractional points.
Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, gained 24 points to 8,929.
Investors’ participation in trading continued to remain poor, as turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange stood at more than Tk259 crore, slightly up 4% over the previous session.
Losers took a marginal lead over the gainers, as out of 310 issues traded, 135 gained, 144 declined and 31 remained unchanged.
The large cap sectors reckoned mixed performance in the session. Banks, which remained under pressure for long, posted the highest gain of over 1%.
Most other sectors, including pharmaceuticals, non-life insurance, food & allied and telecommunication edged higher while cement, textile, power, non-banking financial institutions witnessed correction.
Lanka Bangla Securities said market saw a zigzag movement and mixed performance although profit taking was still on the menu.
It said benchmark index was following the range bound pattern as gain from the financial stocks were capped by mixed performance of power, telco and multinational companies.
IDLC Investments said demonstrating strong volatility in mini and small caps, the bourse ended flat.
However, investors preferred to bet on banking scrips after a long time, based on the expectation of upcoming corporate declarations, it said adding that the sector led both the performance and turnover charts, capturing 19% of total trade value.
It said throughout the session, clienteles remained cautious over political as well as macro-economic landscape too. “As a result, participation was not widely held across the broad.”
Shahjibazar Power Company was the most traded stocks with shares worth Tk14.4 crore changing hands, followed by City Bank, IFAD Autos, Lafarge Surma Cement, Mobil Jamuna Bangladesh and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited.