Stocks end almost flat

Dhaka stocks closed nearly flat yesterday on profit-taking.
The benchmark of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSE General Index, marginally fell 1.99 points, or 0.06 percent, to 2848.17 points, while the DSE All Share Price Index declined 0.85 points, or 0.03 percent, to 2405.85 points.
Trade on the DSE was heavily influenced by price corrections and profit-taking, market insiders said.
In the early 30 minutes, the market stayed in the positive territory gaining about 8 points. It began to decline and lost about 18 points in the next 60 minutes. The market started to turn around and arrived back in the positive territory.
But the behaviour reversed its trend and the market continued to fall until the end when the bourse closed slightly below the opening index.
Turnover also came down to Tk 272.05 crore from the previous day's Tk 323.49 crore.
Most securities traded lower on the Dhaka bourse. Of the total 228 issues traded, only 50 gained, 160 declined and 18 remained unchanged.
A total of 2,12,47,548 shares changed hands on the DSE. Total market capitalisation declined to Tk 99,394.08 crore from the previous day's Tk 99,421.87 crore.
Titas Gas topped the turnover table with 6,83,850 shares worth Tk 33.16 crore.
The day's other turnover leaders were Beximco, Grameen 1 Scheme 2, ACI, ICB 2nd NRB, Lanka Bangla Finance, AIMS 1st Mutual Fund, National Tubes, Union Capital and Beximco Pharma.
Chittagong stocks finished slightly down. The CSE Selective Categories Index lost 20.52 points, or 0.25 percent, to 5695.42 points. The CSE All Share Price Index declined 20.59 points, or 0.23 percent, to 8718.89 points.
A total of 44,25,894 shares worth Tk 40.67 crore changed hands on the port city bourse. Of the 134 traded issues, 30 gained, 100 declined and four remained unchanged.