Agency

Dhaka stocks slightly gained Wednesday, influenced by even buying and selling.

Investors sold off the issues of banking majors, mutual funds and power companies to lock in profits and opted for pharmaceuticals and non-bank financial institutions with some banking issues.

"The market has witnessed balanced buying and selling today. We dealt with almost equal buying and selling orders from our clients throughout the day," an official of brokerage house Latif Securities told bdnews24.com.

Meanwhile, market observers termed the day's trend 'healthy' saying the balanced buying and sell-offs kept the market steady.

"We were anticipating a major fall or rise on Wednesday. But investors—retail and institutional—kept the market stable by buying and selling evenly," DSE chief executive Salahuddin Ahmed told bdnews24.com.

The DSE general index sharply gained throughout the day but slumped in the last two hours of trade. It ended 1.36 points or 0.04 percent up, closing on 3069.93.

The DSI or all-share price index finished at 2583.84, up 1.87 points, or 0.07 percent.

The DSE-20 blue-chip index rose 24.65 points, or 1.05 percent, to close at 2357.93.

Turnover slightly rose to Tk 3.59 billion from Tuesday's Tk 3.24 billion from 32, 617,560 traded shares.

Gainers beat losers 128 to 114, with seven issues holding steady.

Square Pharmaceuticals topped the turnover board, closing at Tk 4679.75, up 1.87 percent.

AIMS 1st Mutual Fund fell on profit-taking to end on Tk 12.22, down 2.78 percent.

AB Bank eroded Tuesday's gains to end 0.52 percent lower at Tk 3545.25.

IFIC Bank however, continued its gains from the previous day, rising 0.72 percent to close at Tk 2944.50.

Power Grid Company of Bangladesh fell on profit-taking, closing 0.11 percent lower at Tk 674.75.

Among other scrips on the turnover board: ACI, Keya Cosmetics, Beximco Pharma and Heidelberg Cement advanced.

Uttara Bank fell.

Indices on the Chittagong Stock Exchange ended mixed.

The CSCX or selective categories index closed at 5497.72, falling 3.33 points or 0.06 percent.

The CASPI or all-share price index declined 4.65 points, or 0.05 percent, to end on 8488.45.

The CSE-30 blue-chip index ended on 7404.55, up 15.32 points, or 0.20 percent.

Turnover on the port city bourse rose to Tk 502.96 million from Tk 463.62 million the previous day from 5,951,933 traded shares.

Of the traded issues, 75 advanced, 71 declined and seven held steady.