Stocks finished slightly higher for the second day in a row on Monday as investors were trading cautiously ahead of national elections.
Market insiders said investors continued trading cautiously as the national elections nears while some investors showed buying appetite on sector specific stocks, taking the market in green territory.
The market opened on positive note and the core index crossed the 5,300-mak in the early trading, gaining 29 points within first hour of trading. But rest of the session eroded most of the early gains.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,296, advancing 5.78 points or 0.11 per cent over the previous day.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips also saw a fractional gain of 0.48 point to settle at 1855. However, the DSE Shariah Index fell 0.96 point to close at 1,225.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, however, fell to Tk 5.49 billion, which was nearly 5.0 per cent lower than the previous day’s Tk 5.76 billion.
A total number of 139,861 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 167.63 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE remained unchanged as total market cap stood at Tk 3,817 on Monday which was also Tk 3,817 billion in the previous day.
Of the 339 issues traded, 176 advanced, 110 declined and 53 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Paramount Textile topped the DSE turnover chart with 2.82 million shares worth Tk 188 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were Advenst Pharma Tk 186 million, Indo-Bangla Pharma Tk 142 million, Khulna Power Tk 130 million and Kattali Textile Tk 128 million.
KDS Accessories was the day’s best performer, gaining 9.88 per cent while Takaful Islami Insurance was the worst loser, losing 7.58 per cent.
The port city bourse CSE also posted marginal gain with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI –advancing 38 points to settle at 16,264 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –gaining 20 point to finish at 9,857.
The gainers beat losers as 129 issues closed higher, 86 ended lower and 28 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 10.50 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 268 million in turnover.
