Stocks end marginally higher

Stocks ended marginally higher Wednesday for the third consecutive sessions with turnover declined slightly as investors went for late hour profit booking.
The market started with a strong move, but late hour profit booking slowed it down, eventually DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended at 4,575.50 points, gaining 12.54 points or 0.27 per cent.
The other two indices also closed positive. The DS30, comprising blue chips gained 8.80 points or 0.52 per cent to close at 1,677.79 points. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) went up by 4.31 points or 0.42 per cent to close at 1,014.90 points.
However, turnover slowed a bit and the total turnover on the DSE amounted to Tk 4.19 billion which was 6.26 per cent lower compared to previous session's value of Tk 4.47 billion.
"The investors' maintained their buying attitude particularly mid-caps and small-cap scrips although sharp rise in early hours slowed down as the session progressed," commented International Leasing Securities, in its regular market analysis.
During the session, investors booked some profit in some sectors. Investors' participation dampened a bit, but remained above Tk 4.0 billion mark, said the International Leasing.
"The trading session started with a strong move, however, profit booking on banking and textile stocks in late hour weighed on the day's hype with benchmark index creeping up by 12.54 points to 4575.50 points," said LankaBangla Securities.
Most of the mutual funds speeded up with sectoral turnover value up by 0.5 per cent, as investors are lured by the attractive valuation level of mutual fund units, the stock broker added.
"Previous session's enthusiasm prevailed at the beginning but turned into infrequent profit booking at later part. As a result, ending marginally higher," said IDLC Investments.
Some specific Large Caps were in upbeat mood. Especially, after quarterly declaration, GP was in upswing with 2.26 per cent gain and up tracking telecommunications to lead in sectoral performance, said the merchant bank.
"Market exhibited positive momentum plodding through an inspiring moment with a moderate turnover volume," said Zenith Investments
Movement of three leading sectors pharmaceuticals, engineering and telecommunications grabbed most of the turnover share and contributed heavily along with other sectors to pull up the market," the Zenith analysis said.
The gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 294 issues traded, 175 gained, 93 declined and 26 issues closed unchanged on the DSE floor.
Among the major sectors, telecommunications posted the highest gain of 2.42 per cent; thanks to GP - the largest cap stock - which gained 2.3 per cent alone.
NBFIs followed next by advancing 0.97 per cent while fuel & power gained marginally by 0.08 per cent. Banks and pharmaceuticals landed in the red zone with 0.35 per cent and 0.23 per cent losses respectively. Food & allied retraced by 0.11 per cent.
Activities decreased in the major bourse (DSE) where trade was down 3.26 per cent, but volume was up 0.29 per cent. A total number of 0.098 million trades were executed in with 92.36 million securities of trading volume.
The total market capitalisation on the DSE stood at Tk 2,953.91 billion against Tk 2,941.42 billion in the previous trading session.
GP became the top turnover leader with shares worth Tk 455.39 million changing hands followed by Appollo Ispat, Active Fine, Meghna Petroleum, and Golden Son.
BD Thai was the day's highest gainer; posting a rise of 8.29 per cent while NCC Bank was the day's worst losers, slumping by 8.0 per cent.
The port city bourse-Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed marginally higher with its Selective Categories Index-CSCX gained 26.03 points to stand at 8,807.12 points.
Gainers beat losers 119 to 74 with 31 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 8.52 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 305.31 million.