Stocks closed flat for the second straight session amid high volatility Thursday, as cautious investors continued to adopt go-slow approach in the backdrop of political unrest.
The benchmark DSE general index, DGEN, closed at 3707 with a marginal gain of 5.59 points or 0.15%, after hitting highest 3722 in mid-session and lowest 3701 in the first session.
The new benchmark index, DSEX, however, went down slightly by 1.41 points or 0.03% to close at 3571. The DS 30 witnessed fractional rise of 0.81 points or 0.06% to 1322.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also closed flat with its Selective Categories Index losing 10.84 points to 7049.65.
The total turnover value at dse stood at Tk2bn, marking a rise of 19% from previous session’s value of Tk1.70 bn.
“Investors are careful because of political uncertainties,” said Zenith Investments in its regular market analysis.
“Political worries continued to put a drag on market sentiment, which still remained downbeat,” said IDLC Investments. However, turnover crossed Tk2 bn-mark, mostly riding on quarterly expectation-driven movements.
Of the 275 issues traded at the DSE, 155 advanced, 97 declined and 23 remained unchanged.
Except for mutual funds all other sectors closed flat. Mutual funds gained 2.74%, continuing positive ride for last couple of days. Its turnover almost doubled from Tk102m to Tk207m.
Banks once again showed minor correction stretching its bearish sidewalk. Travel and leisure sector lost most as it conceded 1.37% loss as Unique Hotel and Resorts lost 1.74%.
Textiles sector occupied the top turnover position with shares worth Tk334.5m. Most of the scrips from textiles side were flat but a couple of them performed well.
IT sector managed to gain 1.92%. A couple of shares gained more than 4%. Although heavyweight Titas Gas gained 3%, oil scrips suffered pretty badly.
Titas Gas was the most traded stocks on the day with shares worth Tk107m changing hands. Orion Pharma, Bengal Windsor Thermoplastic, Summit Purbanchol Power and Aamra Technologies were the day’s next popular stocks.
The other major sectors posted marginal gains with telecommunications and pharmaceuticals going up by 0.29%and 0.01%respectively.
Newly listed Bengal Windsor Thermoplastic was the day’s highest gainer, posting a rise of 10%on its third day of trade followed by Chittagong Vegetable and Jute Spinners which also hit the upper limit of the circuit breaker.
City General Insurance was the day’s worst loser, slumping by 8.46% following its corporate declaration of 10% stock dividend.
