Stocks ended slightly higher on Thursday with core index of the prime bourse crossing the 5,300-mark after one month as some investors showed their buying spree on sector-wise stocks.
The market opened on positive note and the core index rose about 28 points within first 30 minutes of trading. But rest of the session eroded three fourth of the initial gain.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,306, advancing 7.11 points or 0.13 per cent over the previous day.
Two other indices—the DS30 index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES)–also edged higher.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, saw a fractional gain of 0.10 point to finish at 1,868 and the DSE Shariah Index rose 6.38 points to close at 1,227.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, came down to 5.52 billion, which was 23 per cent lower than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 7.17 billion.
A total number of 136,362 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 128.90 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE stood at Tk 3,830 billion on the day which was Tk 3,823 billion in the previous day.
The losers, however, took a modest lead over the gainers, as out of 325 issues traded, 154 declined, 117 advanced and 54 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
United Power topped the DSE turnover chart with 1.04 million shares worth Tk 321 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were Square Pharmaceuticals, Wata Chemicals, Intech and Saiham Cotton Mills.
Intraco Refuelling Station was also the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 8.30 per cent while Wata Chemicals was the worst loser, losing 16.95 per cent following its price adjustment after record date.
The port city bourse – the Chittagong Stock Exchange – also saw marginal with its CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –advancing 42 points to settle at 16,284 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –gaining 25 points to finish at 9,875.
The losers beat gainers as 98 issues closed lower, 92 ended higher and 27 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 8.40 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 250 million in turnover.