Dhaka stocks ended flat on Tuesday amid volatile trading when investors remained skeptical as confusion surfaced after the government announced compensation package for small investors.
DGEN, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, gained 0.08 per cent, or 3.78 points, to close the day at 4,389.01 points.
The day’s turnover saw a sharp decline to Tk 200.25 crore from the previous day’s Tk 304.10 crore.
The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, on Sunday announced a 50 per cent waiver on last year’s margin loan interest and a 20 per cent quota of IPOs for the next two years for small investors who suffered because of the 2011 stock plunge.
The Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association was scheduled to sit in a meeting on Tuesday evening to sort out the operational sides of the compensation package.  
Market operators said investors remained confused and they lined up at different brokerage houses to know the details of the compensation package.
‘All the clients are asking about the compensation package and whether they will get the benefit or not,’ a stockbroker told New Age on Tuesday.
‘We could not answer them as we don’t know the details. So many investors are getting confused and some are getting nervous,’ he said.
He also criticised the hurried declaration of the compensation package by the government before sorting out the procedure.
‘It’s a mess now at the brokers’ end and the investors’ end,’ he said.
Market insiders said that the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday verbally instructed some organisations to invest in the market and keep it afloat as it shed around 192 points on Monday after package announcement.
Of the 249 issues traded on Tuesday, 131 advanced, 98 declined and 20 remained unchanged.
Among the major sectors, telecommunication was the top gainer with 1.32 per cent gain, followed by non-bank financial institutions 0.96 per cent and power sector by 0.17 per cent while the banks lost 0.62 per cent and pharmaceuticals 0.05 per cent.
Beximco topped among the turnover leaders on Tuesday with its shares worth Tk 12.44 crore changing hands. The rest of the turnover leaders were RN Spinning Mills, United Airways, GrameenPhone, Summit Power, Social Islami Bank, Southeast Bank, NCC Bank, Peoples Leasing and Financial Services and United Commercial Bank.