DSE sees modest gain amid volatile trading

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FE Report
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) saw modest gain amid volatile trading in the week that ended Thursday with limited participation of the investors.
The bourse also saw major development in mutual funds in the week, leaving the investors in subdued mood.
During the week, the benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN) rose 35.55 points or 0.81 per cent to close at 4429.19. All Shares Price Index (DSI) moved up 23.82 points or 0.65 per cent, and DSE-20 comprising blue chips shed 10.63 points or 0.42 per cent to finish at 2538.25.
The market witnessed a steep fall, the largest in five months, in the opening session Sunday, but was back on track in the next three sessions. Thursday it ended flat with heavy price fluctuation following the news that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set two years to redeem the non-tenure close-end mutual funds.
As a result, nine mutual funds will have to be redeemed within 2011, and the unit-holders will receive the net asset value (NAV) as per their holdings. The nine mutual funds had entered into the market when there were no specific rules to manage such funds.
The news was followed by huge correction in the mutual fund prices with all the mutual funds losing heavily. The price to NAV ratio went down from 1.79 times at the beginning of the week to 1.68 times at the close of the week.
In the week, the decliners took a modest gain over the advancers, as out of 256 issues traded, 116 went into the positive territory, 125 negative, three remained unchanged and 12 were not traded.
The daily average turnover suffered much, as it decreased to Tk 6.87 billion, down 28.11 per cent from the previous week's Tk 9.56 billion, though there were more trading days in the week compared to the previous week.
Majority of the sectors declined, but Grameenphone, the country's largest mobile operator and the most weighted shares in the DSE, gained 6.66 per cent, which was enough to counter the fall in other major sectors.
Pharmaceuticals rose 1.02 per cent and tannery 0.02 per cent, also contributing to help the market gain modestly.
Banks dropped 2.59 per cent, non-banking financial institutions 0.94 per cent, energy issues 0.25 per cent, general insurers 0.20 per cent, life insurers 0.29 per cent and cement companies dropped 0.05 per cent.
Beximco Ltd was the top turnover leader with shares worth Tk 2.23 billion changing hands.
The next other turnover leaders were AB Bank, Jamuna Oil, Prime Bank, LankaBangla Finance, Grameenphone, Maksons Spinning, Social Islamic Bank, Titas Gas and Shahjalal Islami Bank.
The leading losers were Monno Stafllers, 6th ICB Mutual Fund, 1st BSRS Mutual Fund, ICB AMCL 1st Mutual Fund, ICB AMCL 1st NRB Mutual Fund, Gemini Sea Food, Grameen Mutual Fund Scheme One, ICB AMCL Islamic Mutual Fund, 5th ICB Mutual Fund and 8th ICB Mutual Fund.
On the other hand, Delta Spinners, Mithun Knitting, Bangladesh Thai Aluminium, Summit Alliance Port, Renwick Jajneswar, Aftab Automobiles, Dulamia Cotton, Modern Dyeing, Jamuna Oil and Maksons Spinning were the major gainers.