Turnover crosses Tk 6b-mark again on DSE

Stocks finished almost flat in the red Monday, snapping a four-day gaining streak, as some risk-averse investors booked quick-profit on sector specific stocks.

Market insiders said mid-session sale pressure sent the market to flat territory as short-term traders booked profit mainly on banks, telecommunication and pharmaceuticals issues after recent rally.

The market started with a positive note and the key index of the premier bourse rose around 15 points within first 40 minutes of trading, but could not sustain that level, ultimately closed in flat zone.

DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), finished at 4,721.40, slipping 0.58 point or 0.01 per cent, after adding 77 points in the past four days.

However, the two other indices closed in the positive zone. The DS30 comprising blue chips advanced 1.49 points or 0.08 per cent to settle at 1,765.30. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) saw a fractional gain of 0.87 point or 0.08 per cent to close at 1,127.46.

Turnover, the important indicator of the market, crossed the 6.0 billion-mark and amounted to Tk 6.10 billion, which was 6.27 per cent higher than the previous day`s turnover of Tk 5.74 billion.

Engineering sector continued to lead the turnover list for the seven straight days, capturing 17 per cent of the day`s total turnover, followed by pharmaceuticals 12 per cent and food and allied 10 per cent.

"After rising more than 77 points in the recent rally, stocks showed meager correction amid mixed trading behavior among the investors," said LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, in its regular market analysis.

The stockbroker noted that this is a very critical point for the market as there is strong resistance at this level.

"If this resistance is broken with similar volume in next session, we may expect the market to move upward further as the next resistance is at 4,870-level," said the stockbroker.  

Asian Tiger Capital Partners, an asset management company, said, "The market opened higher and continued the upbeat momentum for first 30 minutes, however fall back and gradually kept slipping because of investors` profit booking sentiment".

The asset management company noted that the bargain hunters prevailed in the last hour and eventually recovered most of the intraday loss and the index closed flat.

The port city bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), finished slightly higher with its Selective Categories Index- CSCX - advancing 1.83 points to settle at 8,849.26 points.