Premier Bank led the week's turnover chart on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) last week that ended on Thursday, with four banks featuring in the list of ten most traded companies.
Market analysts said the banking sector became the most-preferred choice for investors, as the bank are going to declare year-end earnings results soon.
The sector accounted for 18 per cent of the week's total turnover, followed by engineering (13 per cent) and financial institutions (11 per cent).
The total turnover on the DSE stood at Tk 48.28 billion last week, down from Tk 52.71 billion in the previous week.
The banking sector also posted the highest gain of 5.90 per cent, with 28 banks closing higher, out of 30 listed ones.
According to the statistics available with the DSE, about 37.96 million shares of the Premier Bank were traded, generating a turnover of nearly Tk 1.86 billion, which was 3.87 per cent of the week's total turnover.
Its share price closed at Tk 17.10 each on Thursday, the last trading session of the week, registering an increase of 17.93 per cent over the previous day.
Its share traded between Tk 9.70 and Tk 17.70 each in the last one year.
The Premier Bank, which was listed on the DSE in 2007, disbursed 15 per cent stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2017.
The bank's consolidated earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 0.44 for July-September 2018 as against Tk 0.50 for July-September 2017.
For January-September 2018, the consolidated EPS was Tk 1.40 as against Tk 1.37 for January-September 2017.
The bank's paid-up capital is Tk 8.0 billion, authorised capital is Tk 10 billion and the total number of securities is 800.08 million.
The sponsor-directors own 35.22 per cent stake in the bank, while institutional investors own 18.59 per cent, and the general public 46.19 per cent as of December 31, 2018.
The United Power followed next, with shares worth Tk 1.61 billion changing hands, followed by United Finance (Tk 981 million), Dhaka Bank (Tk 876 million), Square Pharma (Tk 832 million) and IFIC Bank (Tk 829 million).
BBS Cables was also included in the top 10 turnover chart with shares of Tk 670 million changing hands, followed by City Bank (Tk 668 million), JMI Syringes (Tk 646 million) and Sonar Bangla Insurance (Tk 632 million).
