DSE ends flat amid jitters

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FE Report
Dhaka stocks ended flat amid roller coaster trading across the board, as jitters gripped investors due to lack of clear directions from the policymakers, dealers said.
The market was in the positive territory almost the entire session, climbing 30 points in the opening hour, before profit-takings in fuel and power, pharmaceuticals and cement stocks sent it into the negative.
The benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN) fell slightly 0.01 per cent or 0.96 per cent to 5654.87, after marginal gain in the previous session.
The broader All Shares Price Index (DSI) lost 3.14 points or 0.06 per cent to 4641.53 while DSE-20 Index comprising blue chips was down by 13.84 points or 0.45 per cent to 3039.16.
"The market saw high volatility, as investors were edgy due to conflicting remarks made by policymakers," said a stockbroker.
He said National Board of Revenue and the parliamentary standing committee on finance have made contradictory comments on imposition of fresh taxes in share profits, leading to uncertainty in the market.
Banking issues, which make up one-fourth of Dhaka stocks' market capitalisation, gained marginally 0.27 per cent after a sharp rise in the previous session.
Among the banks, Eastern Bank Limited and City Bank were the largest gainers rising 3.70 per cent and 3.67 per cent respectively.
Telecommunications, one-fifth of the DSE market cap, finished almost unchanged as GP, the lone listed company in the sector, inched up 0.06 per cent to Tk 324.70.
Non-banking financial institutions gained 0.22 per cent although ICB (-0.92 per cent) and IDLC (-1.13 per cent) lost. Lanka Bangla Finance advanced 3.08 per cent. Mutual funds went down by 0.54 per cent.
Pharmaceuticals sector went down by 0.20 per cent as most of the companies declined. Beximco Pharma (-1.38 per cent), ACI (-0.18 per cent), Marico (-0.96 per cent) and GlaxoSmithKline (-0.61 per cent) were among the losers. Renata jumped 3.53 per cent and Square Pharma gained 0.24 per cent.
Fuel and Power sector lost 0.35 per cent with most of the companies going down. DESCO (-1.05 per cent) and Power Grid (-2.76 per cent) were the significant losers while Titas (+0.64 per cent), KPCL (0.75 per cent) and Summit Power (+0.20 per cent) gained.
Cement sector lost 1.10 per cent with Lafarge going down by 1.94 after it failed to clearance for mining from the Indian Supreme Court.
In the Tannery sector, Apex Adelchi lost 2.60 per cent while Bata lost 0.73 per cent.
The General Insurance sector finished 0.87 per cent higher as most of the insurance companies gained. Life Insurance lost 1.09 per cent as most of the companies declined.
The bourse saw slight increase of 1.8 per cent to Tk 13.9 billion. Decliners trounced the gainers by 159 to 89 lost and two remained unchanged.