Stocks ended almost flat on Wednesday after volatile trading as investors mostly followed cautious approach ahead of national elections.
Market insiders said majority of the investors were not confident to put fresh stakes while some were busy with rebalancing their portfolio, taking the market in the flat zone.
Share price of Khulna Power Company Ltd (KPCL) slumped 7.50 per cent or Tk 5.20 each to close at Tk 64 on Wednesday after the securities regulator took action against the company's directors.
The stock market regulator on Tuesday barred Khulna Power's directors, sponsors and shareholders with more than 10 per cent stakes from disposing their shares after the company failed to disclose price-sensitive information properly.
The contract between Khulna Power, a 110 megawatt power plant, and Bangladesh Power Development Board had expired on October 11 but the company did not articulate the development clearly.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) also decided to form an enquiry committee to investigate the matter.
"The regulatory move prompted investors to sell KPCL shares, plunging its share price substantially," said a leading broker.
The market opened on positive note and the core index crossed the 5,300-mark in the last hour of trading, gaining more than 16 points. But the final minutes' sharp decline sent the market in almost flat territory.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,286, losing 1.82 points or 0.03 per cent, snapping the two-day gaining streak.
"Though the bargain hunters tried to revive the ongoing bearish trend of the index by taking position on bank, textile and telecom sectors stocks but the heavy sell pressure in the final hour eroded the early gain," said International Leasing Securities.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also fell 1.43 points to finish at 1,860 and the DSE Shariah Index shed 3.55 points to close at 1,222.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also fell to Tk 5.94 billion, which was 7.0 per cent lower than the previous day's Tk 6.38 billion.
The power sector posted the highest loss of 0.78 per cent, followed by pharmaceuticals with 0.40 per cent, engineering 0.26 per cent, financial institutions 0.21 per cent and food 0.02 per cent.
Banking and telecommunication witnessed 0.47 per cent and 0.37 per cent gain.
A total number of 145,317 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 155.49 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE stood at Tk 3,836 billion on the day which was Tk 3,842 billion in the previous day.
Of the 340 issues traded, 167 advanced, 125 advanced and 48 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Khulna Power Company topped the DSE turnover chart for the second day in a row with 3.73 million shares worth Tk 249 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were SK Trims Industries, Square Pharmaceuticals, IFAD Autos and Saiham Cotton Mills.
Share price of ML Dyeing is soaring despite having no undisclosed price sensitive information (PSI) and topped the gainers' chart for the second running session.
The company's share price rose about 20 per cent within two consecutive sessions to close at Tk 50 each on Wednesday.
Al-Haj Textile was the worst loser, losing 9.36 per cent.
The port city bourse CSE also closed slightly lower with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -shedding 1.12 points to settle at 16,196 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX -losing 0.48 point to finish at 9,820.
The losers beat gainers as 111 issues closed lower, 99 ended higher and 29 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 8.67 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 230 million in turnover.
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