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Stocks witnessed yet another flat session on Wednesday as investors mostly followed cautious stance ahead of national budget and ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 4.37 points or 0.11 per cent to close at 3,966.
Market operators said ongoing bearish market trend coupled with the fast-spreading virus kept the investors worried, taking market almost stagnated situation.
Investors are also cautiously monitoring and waiting for the upcoming budget announcements before making any further investment decisions, said the stockbroker.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is set to unveil the national budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2020-2021 on tomorrow (Thursday).
Most of the shares were remained stuck at the trading floor and very few buyers came and picked some of the offered shares.
Of the issues traded, 235 remained unchanged while only 24 issues advanced and 15 declined on the DSE trading floor.
Turnover slumped to Tk 594 million, which was 12 per cent lower than the previous day, as the investors were not showing any enthusiasm for buying shares at the current price level due to the waning coronavirus epidemic.
Two other indices also edged up. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 3.15 points to finish at 1,332 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 1.50 points to close at 919.
A total number of 12,512 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 21.88 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE also inched up to Tk 3,105 billion, from Tk 3,102 billion in the previous session.
Beximco Pharma topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 93 million changing hands, followed by GlaxoSmithKline, Beximco, Meghna Petroleum, and Central Pharma.
Beximco Pharma was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 3.28 per cent while Meghna Cement was the worst loser, losing 3.07 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange ended marginally higher with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—advancing 14 points to close at 11,258 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –gaining 8.0 points to finish at 6,821.
Of the issues traded, 21 gained, 8 declined and 58 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 858,772 shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 22 million in turnover.