Turnover crosses Tk 8.0 billion-mark again

Stocks ended flat Thursday with turnover crossing Tk 8.0 billion-mark once again as investors went for profit booking in the later part of the trading session.
The market opened with a positive note and the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) --- DSEX--- gained 36 points till the first two and a half hours of trade. But last 60 minutes it fell steadily, eventually ended at 4,753.17 points, gaining only 4.65 points or 0.09 per cent.
However, the other two indices saw mild correction. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips also lost 2.60 points or 0.15 per cent to close at 1,660.35 points. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) declined 0.93 points or 0.09 per cent to 974.27 points.
The total turnover at DSE again crossed Tk 8.0 billion-mark after remaining comparatively sluggish in the last three sessions. Turnover stood at Tk 8.57 billion, registering 36.5 per cent increase over the previous session's value of Tk 6.27 billion.
"Market maintained its positive momentum in noon trade with the benchmark index (DSEX) holding the 4,780 level supported by banks and textile stocks. However, profit bagging inclination eroded most of the intraday gain closing index just up by 4.7 points," said LankaBangla Securities.
Among all the positives, government approved $106 million foreign credit to 13 sectors including cement, textile, telecom and other manufacturing sectors to boost up manufacturing output growth, the stock broker.
Amid perhaps as a push to market, quarterly declaration spurred sector specific rally working as market trigger to hold 4,750-level on month end trading session, the stock broker added.
"Upbeat vive couldn't sustain at the end of the day's session as investors tended for profit booking," said IDLC Investments.
"Preference to sector wise and scrip wise movement backed by earning disclosures & expectations led rebalancing their portfolio. As a result, DSEX ended flat. But, blue chip index, DS30 turned mildly negative," the merchant bank said.
However, turnover showcased robust movement, going up by 36.5 per cent to Tk 8.57 billion.
Earning declarations mostly magnified this activity. Backed by this, fuel & power maintained turnover leadership for the last seven sessions, followed by textile, accounted for 17 per cent and 14 per cent respectively, the merchant bank added.
"Stocks have registered modest gains and gracefully closed the week with decent turnover volume.  Stocks' refraining from trading lower is clear evidence that investors are favoring all kinds of stocks," said Zenith Investments.
"It is amazing that the correction phase this week occurred for a very brief moment than it should have and the market is still going strong. Perhaps, it's just a trailer of what is going to happen when the market completely turns to its booming phase," observed the Zenith analysis.   
The gainers took a strong lead over the losers as out of 295 issues traded, 174 advanced, 89 declined and 32 issues closed unchanged on the DSE floor.
Among the major sectors, Food & Allied posted the highest gain of 3.02 per cent, as large cap BATBC gained 4.44 per cent alone. Telecommunications and NBFIs went up marginally by 0.65 per cent and 0.40 per cent respectively.  Pharmaceuticals and fuel & power retraced 0.21 per cent and 1.65 per cent respectively.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) closed marginally higher, with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX gained 34.33 points to close at 9,366.97 points.
Gainers beat losers 118 to 85, with 28 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 19.47 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 711.23 million.