Dhaka stocks end flat

After two straight days of decline, the key index of the Dhaka bourse rebounded on Tuesday. However, the two other indices of the Dhaka Exchange (DSE) fell on the day.

Like the previous session, among the issues traded on the day, the share and unit prices of most companies remained unchanged.

On the day, shares of the 377 companies were traded, of which 140 companies or 37.13 percent remained unchanged.

On the other hand, 129 firms or 34.22 percent gained and 108 issues or 28.65 percent lost their price on the day.

However, weak companies dominated the price increase on the day. Two of the 10 companies with the highest price increases are not in production. Those two have not been able to pay dividends for years.

One was the financial institution, which, even if it returns to profit, cannot pay dividends because its accumulated losses are sky high.

Another company paid nominal dividends only twice in the past decade with modest profits. After posting a loss of over Tk 13 per share in the last financial year, it made some profit in the first three quarters of the current financial year.

At the end of the day, DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka bourse increased by 9 points or 0.14 percent to 6,537.

Among other indices, the shariah-based DSES fell by 2.50 points or 0.17 percent and the blue-chip DS-30 was down by 3.11 points or 0.13 percent.

The DSE had a turnover of Tk 1,480 crore, which is about Tk 119 crore more than the previous session.

The pharmaceuticals and chemicals sector played a major role in this rise in transactions. The total turnover in this sector was Tk 291.27 crore, which is 21.31 percent of the total turnover.

The miscellaneous sector was at the second position with Tk 275 crore turnover, followed by textile sector at Tk 132 crore.

Shares of Beximco Limited were the most-traded by value on the DSE as its shares worth Tk 162.45 crore were traded on the day.

Orion Pharma, which was the second most-traded stock, had a turnover of Tk 123.33 crore followed by JHRML, BSC, IPDC Finance, Shinepukur Ceramics, LafargeHolcim, Malek Spinning, SPCL and Orion Infusion.

Meanwhile, the overall index CASPI of the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) increased over 34 points to 19,232 and securities worth Tk 35.02 crore were traded on the day.