Stocks end flat, turnover falls

Dhaka stocks ended flat Sunday with the turnover falling below Tk 7.0 billion (700 crore)-mark after seven weeks as the investors continued to take cautious stance ahead of Grameenphone debut due today (Monday).
The benchmark index started high, above the 3400-mark, but declined sharply by more than 50 points within the first half an hour of trade.
Then the market started to get back its rhythm riding on insurer and pharmaceutical issues but at the end of the day closed with a fractional gain.
The benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN) closed at 3383.23 with a fractional gain of 0.36 points or 0.01 per cent.
The broader DSE All Shares Price Index (DSI) shed 1.10 points or 0.03 per cent to 2832.25 while DSE-20 blue chips index lost 6.76 points or 0.29 per cent to 2278.49.
The turnover declined to Tk 6.95 billion, a decrease of 22 per cent over the previous session, its lowest since September 27 this year.
The turnover suffered heavily on the day as the investors took 'wait and see' policy ahead of the country's largest issue Grameenphone, dealers said.
Some investors remained idle Sunday to buy shares of the Grameenphone, they added.
Gainers took a strong lead over the losers as out of 228 issues traded, 126 advanced, 97 suffered losses and five remained unchanged.
After gaining good percentages during the last week, the banking sector went down with the overall sector falling by 2.51 per cent.
The majority of the non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) edged lower while mutual funds got back its pulse after more than two weeks with the sector rising 4.01 per cent.
Energy sector ended mixed while all the companies of the Beximco group were up except Beximco Pharma.
Shares of the state-owned Padma Oil Company was the largest gainer following its impressive corporate declaration.
The company's board of directors has recommended 50 per cent cash dividend and 200 per cent stock dividend for the year 2008-2009.
Its share prices rose 42.78 per cent, making it also the top turnover leader with shares worth Tk 618.11 million changing hands.
It was followed by Jamuna Oil, Beximco, Bextex, Summit Alliance Port Ltd, DESCO, Uttara Finance and NCC Bank.