DSE turnover crosses Tk 4b-mark

Stocks closed flat on Monday with turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) hitting one month high as late profit booking cut early gains. The market opened with an upward trend, but could not sustain. Eventually, DSEX, the prime index of the DSE ended at 4,447.45 points, shedding 1.11 points or 0.02 per cent. However, the other two indices ended higher. The DS30, comprising blue chips gained 12.38 points or 0.76 per cent to close at 1,638.46 points. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) went up by 3.76 points or 0.37 per cent to close at 1,007.01 points. The total turnover at DSE stood at 4.32 billion, registering an increase of 15 per cent over the previous session’s value of Tk 3.76 billion. The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 297 issues traded, 190 declined, 80 advanced and 27 closed unchanged on the DSE floor. Grameenphone (GP) continued to remain top turnover leader with shares worth Tk 489.32 million changing hands followed by Meghna Petroleum, Square Pharma, Lafarge Surma Cement and Wata Chemicals. Wata Chemicals was the day’s highest gainer, posting a rise of 714.54 per cent following its corporate declaration of 30 per cent stock dividend. Wata Chemicals share closed at Tk 487.1 which was Tk 59.8 on Sunday. EBL NRB Mutual Fund was the day’s worst loser, slumping by 10 per cent. The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), however, closed marginally higher with its Selective Categories Index – CSCX – gained 18.72 points to close at 8,486.93 points. Losers beat gainers 138 to 53, with 25 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 8.42 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 1.09 billion.