Stocks flat as investors take to sidelines

Stocks posted a slight fall on Monday after the previous day's major correction, with turnover dropping sharply, as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach ahead of corporate declarations.
The market opened on a slow trend and moved between positive and negative several times before closing marginally, lower while prices of most of the shares remained unchanged.
DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), finally went down by 4.18 points or 0.06 per cent to settle at 6,511, after losing over 48 points in the previous day.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, fell sharply to Tk 13 billion on the premier bourse, which was 28 per cent lower than the previous day's tally of Tk 18.10 billion.
Two most-traded firms --- Orion Pharma (Tk 9.10 per cent) and Beximco (8.80 per cent) jointly accounted for almost 17 per cent of the day's total turnover.
Market witnessed a slow trend as investors were reluctant to take new positions amid volatile market trend, market operators said.
Most of the investors were cautious as share prices of more than 150 companies remained stuck at their floor prices and a few companies dominated the market for the last few weeks, said a merchant banker.
Besides, the worldwide interest rate hike to curb inflation also worried the local investors, he said.
"Investors opted to remain watchful, observing the recent downward trend in the market, and decided to stay on the sideways ahead of upcoming earning declarations," said EBL Securities, in its regular market analysis.
Moreover, the recent rally in some selective stocks led investors to partially realize their gain as concerns loomed around global economic contraction and recent macroeconomic adversities in the country, said the stockbroker.
According to International leasing Securities, the jittery investors are concerned about the rise of inflation in the future considering worldwide economic turmoil so the investors abstained themselves from active participation in the market.
The miscellaneous sector dominated the turnover chart, grabbing 21 per cent of the day's total turnover, followed by pharmaceuticals (16 per cent) and engineering (11 per cent).
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) saw a fractional loss of 0.33 points to 1,420. However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 1.97 points to finish at 2,331.
Most of the traded issues remained unchanged due to the 'floor price' restriction. Of the 371 issues traded, 137 declined, 61 advanced and others 173 remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
Major sectors posted mixed performance. The pharmaceuticals booked the highest gain of 0.07 per cent, after the previous day's sharp correction, followed by banking with 0.06 per cent, telecom 0.06 per cent.
On the other hand, the non-bank financial institutions witnessed the highest loss of 1.30 per cent, followed by engineering with 0.56 per cent, power 0.27 per cent and food 0.07 per cent.
Orion Pharma continued to top the turnover list with shares worth Tk 1.15 billion changing hands, closely followed by Beximco (Tk 1.14 billion), Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (Tk 686 million), JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing (Tk 571 million) and Eastern Housing (Tk 368 million).
BDCOM Online was the day's top gainer, soaring 9.66 per cent while Meghna Life Insurance was the worst loser, losing 10.30 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also fell slightly with the CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) losing 1.25 points to settle at 19,181 and its Selective Categories Index (CSCX) shedding 0.68 points to close at 11,497.
Of the issues traded, 106 declined, 43 advanced and 92 issues remained unchanged.
The port-city bourse traded 48.92 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 1.16 billion.

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