Stocks ended nearly flat on Tuesday amid thin participation of investors as most of the investors remained cautious amid worsening situation of the deadly virus Covid-19 in the country.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, went up by 2.28 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 3,960, after losing nine points in the past two sessions.
The core index is hovering between 3,950 and 3,970 points in the past 11 sessions as most of the investors were reluctant to make any fresh investment amid growing tension over the Covid-19 pandemic.
Market analysts said the budget failed to meet investors' expectations while growing tension over the Covid-19 pandemic and floor price mechanism kept the investors at bay to put fresh funds in stocks.
Turnover remained below Tk 1.0 billion-mark for the past six trading sessions. It was Tk 653 million on Tuesday, a 6.18 per cent higher than the previous day, as the investors were not showing any enthusiasm for buying shares.
However, the last hour mild movement on large-cap sectors stock, particularly on pharma, bank and textile sectors helped the prime index to close green, said the stockbroker.
Most of the shares remained stuck at the trading floor. Of the issues traded, 206 remained unchanged while only 20 issues advanced and 20 declined on the DSE trading floor.
Two other indices also saw fractional gain. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 0.86 point to finish at 1,325 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 0.67 points to close at 918.
A total number of 10,527 trades were executed in the day's trading session with a trading volume of 24.60 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE also inched up to Tk 3,103 billion, from Tk 3,102 billion in the previous session.
Beximco Pharma topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk61 million changing hands, followed by Beximco, National Bank, Linde Bangladesh and Reckitt Benckisher.
Desh Garment was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 4.54 per cent while ICB Employees Provident Mutual Fund One was the worst loser, losing 5.88 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange edged higher with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)-gaining 4.45 points to close at 11,243 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX -advancing 2.77 points to finish at 6,811.
Of the issues traded, 16 gained, 12 declined and 60 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 831,524 shares and mutual fund units worth only Tk 17 million in turnover.
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