Dhaka stocks hit plateau

Dhaka stocks closed almost flat yesterday, the last trading day before the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Trading will resume on Monday.
A majority of the securities were in the red. Of the traded issues, 173 declined, 81 gained and three remaining unchanged. But a rise in bank shares, a major sector, and mutual funds helped the market see a marginal gain.
The benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange -- DSE General Index -- rose only 3.55 points, or 0.05 percent, to 6,807.
Other major sectors, such as non-banking financial institutions, insurance, telecoms, pharmaceuticals, fuel and power, and cement were in the negative territory.
Although the market started strong, it dipped later for an hour. After that, the market made a steady climb till the end and recovered the losses.
A stockbroker said many investors exercised the netting facility in non-marginable securities.
"The market plunged at earlier trading sessions as investors were in a selling spree, while the market gained in the later sessions, as investors were in a buying spree using the netting facility," the stockbroker said.
In line with a decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission, investors will no longer be allowed to purchase non-marginable securities by making financial adjustments or money netting facility after the Eid holidays.
The netting facility allows an investor to purchase shares immediately after completing a share sale. A non-marginable security is a stock that cannot be purchased on margin loans provided by stockbrokers and merchant banks.
The premier bourse traded more than 9.35 crore shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 1,604 crore, which was 6.5 percent higher than in the previous session.
IFIC Bank topped the turnover list with 8.66 lakh shares worth Tk 97.68 crore being traded on the floor.
Chittagong stocks however marked a slight fall with the CSE Selective Categories Index sliding 41 points, or 0.32 percent, to reach 12,935.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange traded more than 1.23 crore shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 155.84 crore.
Losers beat gainers 118 to 72, while two securities remained unchanged on the port city bourse.
Al-Arafah Islami Bank topped the turnover list with 7.79 lakh shares worth Tk 8.15 crore being traded
on the CSE.