Stocks witnessed yet another flat session on Sunday as most investors traded cautiously ahead of December-end earnings and dividend declarations.
The market opened on an upbeat note and the key index crossed the 7100-mark, rising 33 points within the five minutes of trading. But, most of the initial gain eroded amid profit booking.
Finally, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 3.57 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 7,089. The key index added 38 points in the past four consecutive sessions.
Turnover, the most important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 12.75 billion, which was 1.68 per cent higher than the previous day's tally of Tk 12.54 billion.
The pharma sector took the market lead in terms of turnover considering the higher profit growth in the latest quarterly declarations, said a stockbroker.
Accordingly, investors concentrated on the pharma sector capturing 14.6 per cent of the day's total turnover, followed by engineering (13.2 per cent) and textile (10.3 per cent).
Market analysts said the market witnessed high volatility in the past four straight sessions as investors traded cautiously amid profit booking on sector-specific issues.
The market remained flat as many investors are rebalancing their portfolios based on latest quarterly earnings disclosures, according to a merchant banker.
Favourable macroeconomic indicators prompted some investors to take positions on sector-wise stocks, taking the market index and turnover slightly higher, he said.
Price surge of some large-cap stocks such as British American Tobacco, Fortune Shoes, Linde Bangladesh, Beacon Pharma and Grameenphone helped the market index edge higher.
These five stocks jointly contributed rise of 8.6 points of the DSEX, according to amarstock.com, a market data analyst.
Stocks stayed in the positive terrain as investors' profit-booking in mid-session pushed the core index to settle flat after the stocks opened higher, commented EBL Securities.
Trading activities remained almost flat as most investors were on the sidelines, seeking opportunities to take new position in potential stocks ahead of corporate declaration, said the stockbroker.
Two other indices also edged higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 7.55 points to finish at 2,605 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 5.35 points to close at 1,522.
Losers, however, took a modest lead over the gainers, as out of 379 issues traded, 196 declined, 142 advanced and 41 issues remained unchanged on the DSE.
A total number of 341,916 trades were executed in the day's trading session with a trading volume of 181.03 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE rose to Tk 5,671 billion on Sunday, up from Tk 5,667 billion in the previous session.
Fortune Shoes, which gained 7.34 per cent, was the most traded stock with shares worth over Tk 989 million changing hands, followed by Orion Pharma (Tk 562 million), Beximco (Tk 492 million), Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (Tk 437 million) and Saif Powertec (Tk 297 million).
Aramit Cement was the day's top gainer, posting a 9.97 per cent rise while Queen South Textile Mills was the worst loser, losing 7.11 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also posted marginal gain with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -gaining 6.38 points to settle at 20,775 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX-rising 1.40 points to close at 12,473.
Of the issues traded, 152 declined, 129 advanced and 74 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
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