Stocks kept gaining on Wednesday, with turnover hitting 11-month high, as enthusiastic investors put fresh stakes on stocks riding on central bank’s supportive measures.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 9.31 points or 0.20 per cent to settle at 4,480.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 6.57 billion on the country’s premier bourse, climbing further by 30 per cent over previous day’s mark of Tk 5.05 billion.
It happens to be the biggest single-day transaction in the last 11-month since March 13, last year, when the turnover totaled a record Tk 7.08 billion.
Market operators the central banks’ market supportive measures coupled with government’s moves to divest shares of state-owned enterprises and banks brought a ray of hope to investors.
The DSE Shariah Index saw a fractional gain of 0.56 point to close at 1,030. However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 1.16 points to finish at 1,516.
Gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 355 issues traded, 160 closed higher, 146 ended lower and 49 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 158,053 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 247.48 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE also rose to Tk 3,421 billion, from Tk 3,413 billion in the previous session.
Shepherd Industries continued to top the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 308 million changing hands, followed by LafargeHolcim, Orion Infusion, Khulna Power and Indo-Bangla Pharma.
ICB Employees Provident Mutual Fund-1 was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent while Shympur Sugar Mills was the worst loser, losing 7.78 per cent.
The port city’s bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange, also stayed in the positive zone with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—advancing 1.18 points to close at 13,633 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –rising 0.56 point to finish at 8,267.
Here too, the gainers beat losers, as 139 issues closed higher, 92 ended lower and 36 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 9.35 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 193 million in turnover.
