Investors follow cautious stance

Stocks closed flat in the green Wednesday with sluggish turnover as most of the investors followed cautious stance following previous session's profit booking.
The market started with a positive note, but mid-session sale pressure wiped out most of the early gains amid choppy trading. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended at 4,527.21 points, gaining a fractional of 0.71 points or 0.01 per cent.
The other two indices also closed positive. The DS30, comprising blue chips gained 4.58 points or 0.27 per cent to close at 1,693.02 points. The DSE Shariah Index went up by 2.78 points or 0.26 per cent to close at 1,050.75 points.
Turnover at DSE has tumbled significantly. The total turnover came down to Tk 4.93 billion, which was 27.61 per cent lower over the previous session's value of Tk 6.81 billion.
The investors' attention was mainly focused on fuel and power, pharmaceuticals, textile and engineering sectors, accounted for 19.47 per cent, 16.44 per cent, 16.43 per cent and 11.11 per cent respectively of the day's total turnover.
 "The market endured in flat session in an attempt to recover from previous session's setback amidst the investors' cautiousness and lack of participation," commented International Leasing Securities, in its regular market analysis.
Only few recently listed securities from the textile sector along with a couple of issues from the fuel and power sector grabbed investors' attention as the investors remained uncertain about the future market direction, said the International Leasing.
 "Having last session's correction, market ended flat with turnover shrinking further by almost 27.61 per cent. The lower turnover reflected slowing down of selling spree among the investors," said IDLC Investments.
Investors' interest in textile sector was vigilant from the fact that, five stocks emerging at top ten gainers list with Hwa Well Textile leading the chart.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) ended flat in the red with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - lost 2.61 points to close at 8,564.19 points.