Stocks ended almost flat on Sunday after volatile trading as investors mostly followed cautious stance ahead of national budget and ongoing holy Ramadan.

Market analysts a section of investors preferred booking profit while some others were busy rebalancing portfolio, taking the market in the flat zone.

After witnessing volatility throughout the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,253, advancing 2.73 points or 0.05 per cent over the previous day.

Two other indices, however, closed in the red. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 7.44 points to finish at 1,825 and the DSE Shariah Index shed 2.72 points to close at 1,190.

Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 3.28 billion, which was 2.82 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 3.19 billion.

The losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 346 issues traded, 183 declined, 121 advanced and 42 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

BATBC topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 145 million changing hands.

The other turnover leaders were Eastern Cables, Fortune Shoes, National Tubes and Doreen Power.

National Tubes was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.98 per cent while Phoenix Finance was the worst loser, losing 11.45 per cent following its price adjustment after record date.

However, the port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange, finished lower with its CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –shedding 41 points to settle at 15,999 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX –losing 27 points to finish at 9,681.

Here too, the losers beat gainers, as 144 issues closed lower, 92 ended higher and 21 remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.

The port city bourse traded 7.62 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 170 million in turnover.