Cement, engineering, pharma, bank issues dominate trading

The market ended flat in green Wednesday with sluggish trading activities as investors remained shaky amid gloomy market sentiment.
The market started with a upward trend like previous few sessions, but could not sustain. Eventually, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended at 4,340.46 points, gaining 1.59 points or 0.03 per cent.
The DS30, comprising blue chips gained 0.81 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 1,606.28 points. However, DSE sharia index (DSES) went below 1,000 points mark after 7-session, shedding 1.26 points or 0.12 per cent to close at 999.91 points.
Tremulous sentiment turned activity level lethargic again, putting turnover below Tk 2.50 billion level after 18-session. The total turnover on DSE stood at Tk 2.33 billion which was 11.40 per cent lower compared to previous session's value of Tk 2.63 billion.
"Prolonged expectation, centering on Padma Bridge contract signing couldn't grab investors' attention much as shaky phenomenon persisted," commented IDLC Investments, in its regular market analysis.
Clienteles continued cashing out their accumulated gains, leaving the bourse in a tight spot, said the merchant bank.
Overall market behaved mixed, creating a vacuum in activity level. Hence, prime index, DSEX retained flat, said the merchant bank.
LankaBangla Securities said, "Market reaffirmed the wavering trading pattern amid cautious market sentiment".
Escalating tense over imposition of tax on capital gain might have tempted the investors to take 'wait-and-watch' approach in the market, said the stock broker.
The lacklustre closure of prime index - DSEX stretched the continuing stagnant condition of the market further, said International Leasing Securities.
"The investors' wary treads refrained from injecting fresh funds in the market and consequently dipped the turnover level to 18-session low," said the International Leasing.
However, the gainers took a lead over the losers as out of 295 issues traded, 147 advanced, 97 declined and 51 closed unchanged on the DSE floor.
Cement sector went for a correction of 3.4 per cent in market capitalization, while bank, NBFI and textile gained 0.2 per cent, 0.42 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.
Activities decreased in the major bourse (DSE) where trade and volume were down by 11.29 per cent and 3.88 per cent respectively. A total of 0.061 million trades were executed with 54.44 million securities of trading volume.
The market capitalisation on DSE came down to Tk 2,877.16 billion against Tk 2,880.55 billion in the previous session.
Lafarge Surma Cement was the most traded stocks for the third running sessions with shares worth Tk 251.26 million changing hands followed by BSRM Steels, Beximco Limited, GP and Square Pharmaceuticals.
The investors' concentration was mainly focused on cement, engineering, pharmaceuticals and banking sectors, accounting for
15.75 per cent, 12.11 per cent, 11.84 per cent and 11.12 per cent respectively of the day's total turnover.
Sandhani Life Insurance was the day's highest gainer, posting a rise of 7.19 per cent while Kohinoor Chemicals was the day's worst loser, slumping by 7.11 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed flat in positive with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - gained 11.87 points to close at 8,272.22 points.
Gainers beat losers 97 to 80, with 30 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 6.63 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 410.42 million.