Dhaka stocks close virtually unchanged

---

FE Report
Dhaka stocks ended virtually unchanged in the volatile market Wednesday as all three indices closed only fractionally amid speculative investment mostly dominated by retail investors.
The market began with a positive note as the benchmark gained 15 points in the first hour, backed by banks and some heavyweight energy companies. Later, it trimmed the early gains with banks, energy and pharmaceuticals losing their momentum.
Before finishing the day with a relatively stable note, the index struggled to stage comeback before one hour from the close but could not recover.
The benchmark Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) General Index (DGEN) ended at 2926.91 with a meagre gain of 0.25 points or 0.008 per cent.
The broader All Shares Price Index (DSI) finished at 2451.24 with virtually no gain while the DSE 20 blue chip index rose only 0.40 points to end at 2216.00.
Out of 238 stocks traded on the DSE, 127 stocks went into the green, 106 into the red and five remained unchanged.
"The market sentiment is relatively fair as the investors are booking profit," said a top fund manger.
The market was mostly dominated by retail investors and speculative investment ruled the market, resulting in the volatility of about 18 points on the day, according to the Equity Partners Limited (EPL), an investment bank, in its daily market analysis.
The daily average turnover suffered as it stood at Tk 5.20 billion, down 19.90 per cent from previous close of Tk 6.50 billion.
Most of the banks gained with Jamuna Bank registering highest rise of five per cent and the trade volume of this sector was higher than that of other sectors.
The non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) continued to decline on price correction. Mutual funds ended up much higher than in the previous session, supported by the gain in ICB that saw rise of 2.9 per cent.
All the major companies in the pharmaceuticals sector lost with UK-based Reckitt Benckiser declining 3.6 per cent.
All cement companies gained except Lafarge Surma while most of the major stocks in energy and insurance companies lost on the day and most of other sectors ended mixed.