Stocks finished almost flat on Wednesday, a day after the index booked the highest single-session rally in six months, as investors stayed cautious amid market volatility.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,077, registering a fractional loss of 0.46 point over the previous day.
The market was highly volatile and wiped out almost 50 points during the mid-session on Wednesday but recovered in the final hour.
On Tuesday, the prime index of the major bourse soared 111 points or 2.24 per cent, the biggest single-day gain in six months, following regulatory intervention, which came after recent sharp decline.
Meanwhile, the DSE asked stock dealers, stock brokers and authorised representatives to strictly follow the code of conduct as enumerated in the second schedule to the securities and exchange commission Rules, 2000.
Market analysts said smart investors were now trying to take fresh position on sector-specific stocks considering the lucrative price level while some others were busy rebalancing their portfolios ahead of earnings declarations, taking the market to the flat territory.
The DSES (Shariah) index also fell 3.90 points to settle at 1,160. However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 2.07 points to finish at 1,816.
However, the mutual fund sector posted the highest gain of 4.7 per cent. The unit prices of 32 mutual funds, out of 37, closed higher.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, however, rose to Tk 3.80 billion, which was 20 per cent higher than the previous day's turnover of Tk 3.17 billion.
A total of 116,107 trades were executed in the day's trading session, with trading volume standing at 167.72 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE rose to Tk 3,794 billion on Wednesday, from Tk 3,792 billion in the previous day.
Among major sectors, power posted the highest gain of 0.32 per cent, followed by non-bank financial institutions (0.23 per cent) and banking (0.22 per cent).
Telecoms witnessed the highest loss of 0.60 per cent, followed by engineering (0.54 per cent), food (0.29 per cent) and pharma (0.06 per cent).
The losers took a modest lead over the gainers, as out of 353 issues traded, 178 closed lower, 146 higher and 32 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Square Pharmaceuticals topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 146 million changing hands.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange ended slightly higher with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI - advancing 6.70 points to settle at 15,520 while the Selective Categories Index - CSCX - gaining 4.93 points to finish at 9,439.
Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 134 issues ended lower, 126 higher and 15 remained unchanged.
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