DSE sees choppy trading

Stocks went up marginally Wednesday for the third straight session amid choppy trading, with turnover dipped below Tk 6.0 billion after eight sessions, as large cap stocks held to end in positive territory.
The market opened higher in the morning, subdued in the middle and again crawled up in the late afternoon. Eventually, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended at 4,599.46 points, gaining 8.81points or 0.19 per cent.
The other two indices also ended in positive. The DS30, comprising blue chips gained 6.51 points or 0.37 per cent to close at 1,734.93 points. The DSE Shariah Index advanced 8.06 points or 0.75 per cent to close at 1,073.54 points.
The turnover dropped to Tk 5.78 billion which was 27.24 per cent lower over the previous session's seven-month high turnover of Tk 7.95 billion. The turnover dipped below Tk 6.0 billion after eight sessions.
The investors' participation mostly concentrated on, pharmaceuticals, engineering and fuel & power - the sectors that accounted for 19.10 per cent, 14.21 per cent and 13.94 per cent respectively in the day's total trade.
"Despite session-long volatility, large cap stocks held up the bourse to end in positive territory. With third consecutive session's positivity, DSEX closed marginally below 4,600 points," said IDLC Investments.
Additionally out of 297 traded stocks, 49 observed more than 3.0 per cent price change, reflecting significant volatility in the market, said the merchant bank.
"Short-term rhythmic bullish movement faced some resistance due to selling spree and profit booking," said the merchant bank.
"Investors booked some profits on the stocks that have steadily increased over the past few days, and for which a slight correction is totally normal," said Zenith Investments.
The overall market condition still looks quite promising, as funds are cycling quickly in and out of stock market through profit taking and reinvestment, said the Zenith Investments.   
"Though morning trading spooked by the hefty selling pressure in financial stocks, food & allied, telecommunication and Pharma sectors came to rescue market," said LankaBangla Securities.
"The stock market encountered a dismal day of trading after previous day's upbeat momentum. Upward rally coupled with the slump in overall investors' participation revealed the market's unpredictable mood," said International Leasing Securities.
However, the investors have yet to make a move based on NBR's newly introduced income tax policy as no significant movement was noticed in the textile sector, said the International Leasing.
All the large cap sectors advanced except the financial sectors. Banks and NBFIs retraced 0.38 per cent and 1.14 per cent respectively.
Food & allied appreciated the most with 3.39 per cent gain - followed by telecommunications 2.34 per cent and pharmaceuticals 1.38 per cent. Fuel & power closed almost flat gaining 0.02 per cent.
The losers took a moderate lead over the gainers as out of 297 issues traded, 134 declined, 131 advanced and 32 remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
Activities decreased in the major bourse (DSE) where turnover, trade and volume were down by 19.87 per cent and 22.78 per cent respectively. A total 0.122 million trades were executed with 145.56 million securities of trading volume.
The total market capitalisation on DSE stood at Tk 3,034.46 billion against Tk 3,018.89 billion in the previous session.
Beximco Limited continued to top the turnover chart for the six running sessions with shares worth Tk 360.93 million changing hands followed by Beximco Pharma, Square Pharma, MJL BD and Golden Son.
ICB First NRB Mutual Fund was the day's highest gainer, posting a rise of 5.90 per cent while Intech Online Ltd was the day's worst loser, slumping by 3.64 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed positive with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - gained 6.45 points to close at 8,680.96 points.
Losers beat gainers 116 to 75, with 28 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 13.22 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 418.12 million.