Investors go for short-term gain amid volatile share trading

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FE Report
Dhaka stocks closed mixed Thursday amid volatile intra-day trading as investors opted for short-term gain instead of long-term.
Trading at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) started on a positive note as the benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN) rose more than 30 points in the first hour of trade. Later, it started to shed points and finally landed in the red.
The benchmark DGEN and the All Shares Price Index (DSI) slid 10.43 points and 8.75 points to close at 2748.59 and 2278.15 respectively. The DSE-20 blue chip index, however, rose 14.70 points to end at 2351.91.
"The market is passing through an uneasy situation, as reflected in the intra-day market volatility indicator Beta," said market analyst Yawer Sayeed.
The intra-day volatility measured 30 points Thursday against 35 points of the previous day.
He also said the investors now look for short term gain instead of long term as their confidence has been rattled by the persistent volatility of the market.
According to merchant bankers, the lending activities of most of the merchant banks have become limited mainly due to their statutory restriction, leading to their reduced capacity to inject fresh funds into the market.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 238 issues traded, 152 declined, 77 advanced and nine remained unchanged.
The day's total turnover declined to Tk 2.34 billion (234 crore) from the previous day's Tk 2.59 billion while the market capitalisation marginally increased to Tk 986.23 billion from Tk 980.62 billion of the previous day.
Beximco Pharma emerged the turnover leader for the third straight day with shares worth Tk 353.73 million traded. Its share price rose 1.30 per cent to close at Tk 170.50.
Titas Gas, Islami Bank, ICB 2nd NRB Mutual Fund, Square Pharma, ACI Limited, Summit Alliance Port Limited, Uttara Bank, Summit Power, and Agni Systems Limited were the day's next other turnover leaders.