Stocks end flat after volatility

Dhaka stocks on Monday closed flat amid volatility with decrease in turnover.

The benchmark DSEX index rose over 6 points or 0.09 percent, to 6,407—the highest level in two months. With the rise, it extended its winning streak for the third straight session.

The rally was led by travel & leisure, miscellaneous and telecommunication sectors.

On the flip side, NBFI, life insurance and services & real estate sectors faced correction.

The DSE turnover declined 17 per cent to Tk 1,744 crore over the previous session’s more than a 10-month high.

The equity indices of the Dhaka bourse managed to stay afloat after witnessing volatility throughout the session as investors were enticed into profit booking, taking advantage of the recent bullish trend in the market, said EBL Securities in its post market commentary.

The market has been heated up due to the recent uptrend, riding on increased participation that led most of the stocks to be traded at lucrative prices, which induced the cautious investors to partial liquidation of their holdings amid prevailing macroeconomic concerns, it said.

Two other indices also closed lower. The blue-chip index DS30 rose 4 points or 0.19 per cent to 2,275 while the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, was up 2 points or 0.21 per cent to 1,393.

On the sectoral front, Textile (17.0 per cent) issues exerted the highest turnover, followed by Miscellaneous (11.6 per cent) and Engineering (10.5 per cent) stocks.

Almost all the sectors displayed mixed returns, out of which Travel (2.3 per cent), Paper (1.3 per cent) and Miscellaneous (1.1 per cent) exerted the highest returns on the bourse today, while Financial Institutions (-1.9 per cent), Life Insurance (-1.4 per cent) and Services (-1.3 per cent) exerted the most corrections.

Out of the 386 issues traded, 123 advanced, 188 declined, and 75 remained unchanged.

The port city bourse, CSE, also settled on green terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) inched up by 3.5 and 5.6 points respectively.