Stocks close flat on bourses

Stocks finished flat Thursday amid choppy trading, as late hours selling pressure wiped off most of the early gains.
The initial upbeat market soon yielded to a flat end after drawing a wavering pattern in the prime index chart. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSEX) ended at 4,392.15 points, gaining only 2.79 points or 0.06 per cent.
However, the other two indices ended in red zone. The DS30, comprising blue chips lost 2.19 points or 0.13 per cent to close at 1,602.93 points. The DSE Shariah Index declined 2.65 points or 0.26 per cent to close at 998.87 points.
Turnover at DSE remained dry as total turnover amounted to Tk 2.53 billion which was 1.3 per cent lower compared to previous session's value of Tk 2.56 billion.
"The investors chose to stay as an observant rather than becoming active participant as no new factors cloud boost up their confidence level up to the market," commented International Leasing Securities, in its regular market analysis.
Upcoming Eid festival and next monetary policy which will be announced on July 27, also kept investors cautious during the trading activities, said the International Leasing.
Meanwhile, investors focused their attention to the newly listed issues - Shahjibazar Power and FAR Chemical - which gained 11.44 per cent and 9.70 per cent respectively.
IDLC Investments said: "Increased supply pressure at the later part of the day's trade netted opening upbeat vibe and left the bourse in flat territory".
The market rode on the better performance of non-life insurance, textile and fuel and power and late hour selling pressure re-balanced the prime index (DSEX) to close flat, said the merchant bank.
"The market absorbed slight impact of macroeconomic data like wane of current account surplus and declined remittance flow," the merchant bank added.
The trading session started off on the upbeat, but the rest of the session experienced a decline ending just 0.06 per cent above from previous day's closing of broad index, said LankaBangla Securities.
Zenith Investments said: "It was a relief to see that the market was able to avert the selling pressure, and maintained its uptrend intact, till the last day of the week".
All the major sectors gained on the day except telecommunications which lost 1.80 per cent. Fuel and power and food and allied advanced by 0.60 per cent and 0.20 per cent respectively. Pharmaceuticals and banks went up by 0.17 per cent each. NBFIs also closed positive with 0.13 per cent.
Gainers outpaced losers as out of 299 issues traded, 175 advanced, 87 declined and 37 remained unchanged on DSE floor.
Activities decreased in the major bourse (DSE), but trade and volume were up by 1.39 per cent and 6.95 per cent respectively. A total of 0.064 million trades were executed in with 65.99 million securities of trading volume.
The market capitalization on the DSE stood at Tk 2,894.37 billion against Tk 2,897.90 billion in the previous session.
Beximco Limited was the most traded stock for the five consecutive trading sessions with shares worth Tk 235.20 million changing hands followed by Shahjibazar Power, GP, Peninsula Chittagong and MJLBD.
Like previous session, the top five issues in turnover chart captured lion share of 29.09 per cent of total trade on DSE.
Shahjibazar Power, which made debut on Tuesday, was the day's highest gainer, posting a rise of 11.44 per cent while Sandhani Life Insurance was the day's worst loser, slumping by 22.89 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), however, ended in red with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - lost 5.52 points to close at 8,326.99 points.
Gainers beat losers 92 to 77, with 32 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 6.61 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 226.52 million.