Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh’s stocks finished the week flat on Thursday, after remaining down in the past session, as investors were mostly cautious amid ongoing earning session.
The listed companies started to release quarterly earnings from the last week, while the Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Tuesday unveiled cautious monetary policy for the next six months, targeting higher economic growth but lower inflation.
The market started with a positive note and the key index of the premier bourse advanced nearly 16 points within first hour of trading, but rest of the session fell steadily, ultimately ended almost flat note.
DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 4,538.26, inching up by 0.06 point.
The two other indices, however, edged lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 0.42 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 1,771.51 points.
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) also lost 1.95 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 1,111.18 points.
Turnover, the crucial indicator of the market, came down to BDT 3.76 billion on DSE, which was 7.16 per cent lower than the previous day’s value of BDT 4.05 billion.
The losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 323 issues traded, 149 closed lower, 109 higher and 65 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Square Pharmaceuticals dominated the turnover chart with shares worth nearly BDT 179 million changing hands, followed by Bangladesh Steel Rerolling Mills, Brac Bank, Islami Bank and United Power.
ICB eighth mutual Fund was the day’s best performer, posting a rise of 15.81 percent following its corporate declaration of 200 percent cash dividend, while Shympur Sugar Mills was the worst loser, plunging by 8.60 percent.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed slightly lower with its Selective Categories Index- CSCX – falling 7.42 points to finish at 8,499.26 points.
Losers beat gainers 123 to 83, with 44 issues remaining unchanged on the port city bourse that traded 20.41 million shares and mutual fund units with a value of BDT 422 million.
BBN/SSR/AD