DHAKA, Dec 1: Shares on the the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended steady on Saturday after a brief rally in banking stocks, brokers said.

They said overall market sentiment was positive but trading was range-bound.

The DSE benchmark index rose 0.01 point or 0.001 per cent to 817.60. Gainers led losers by 76 to 36 with 15 remaining unchanged.

The DSE-20 index of selected blue chips also rose 0.59 point or 0.05 per cent to 1,099.20.

“Retailers bought shares of banking sectors anticipating a better return in a short span of time ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr later this month,” Tariqul Islam of SAR Securities, a private brokerage firm said.

He said the retailers also bought shares of Pharmaceutical and engineering shares which fell in the immediate past sessions.

Arab Bangladesh Bank Limited, a leading bank in private sector, rose 3.91 per cent to 225.75 taka on 22,865 shares valued at 5.09 million taka ($0.09 million).

National Credit and Commerce Bank Limited (NCCBL) also rose 1.52 per cent to 217 taka on 12,650 shares valued at 2.73 million taka ($0.05 million).

Plastic bottle manufacturer Meghna Pet, which remained the volume leader with 1.29 million shares, rose 3.96 per cent to 10.50 taka valued at 13.5 million taka ($0.24 million).

Saturday’s overall turnover totalled 75.75 million taka ($1.89 million) up 32.01 million taka ($0.56 million) from the previous trading session on Thursday. Friday is weekend in Muslim Bangladesh.

Some 3.7 million shares were traded on the day against 5.3 million shares in previous session.

Islam said the market is likely to get a push amid buying by retailers ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, when they have cash in hand.—Reuters