Ten top-traded companies accounted for more than 33 per cent of transactions on the country's premier bourse DSE on Wednesday with large-cap issues continuing to dominate the turnover chart.
Market insiders said fundamentally-sound issues like Square Pharmaceuticals, Grameenphone and Beximco Pharmaceuticals continued to attract investors who are anticipating positive quarterly earnings and dividend declarations.
Square Pharma topped the turnover table on the day. The investors remained busy buying its shares as construction work began recently on the manufacturing plant of the Square Pharmaceuticals Kenya EPZ, a subsidiary of Square Pharma in Nairobi.
About 831,707 shares of Square Pharma were traded, generating a turnover of Tk 274 million, which was 6.46 per cent of the total transactions of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
Square Pharma, the second largest market-cap company, saw its share price close at Tk 330, shedding 0.96 per cent from that of the previous session.
The share price of the mobile operator Grameenphone (GP) kept advancing for last few days.
The share price of GP, the country's largest market-cap listed company, closed at Tk 505.90, the highest closing price since its listing with the capital market in 2009.
The lone listed mobile phone company's share price was traded between Tk 500.20 and Tk 510, before closing at Tk 505.90, advancing 0.42 per cent over the previous day.
A meeting of the board of directors of GP will be held on January 29 to consider, among others, audited financial statements of the company for the year ended on December 31, 2017, which also attracted the investors, said a stockbroker.
According to statistics available with the DSE, about 528,524 shares of GP were traded, generating a turnover of Tk 267 million, which was 6.29 per cent of the premier bourse's total transactions. It was the second highest turnover.
Apart from GP and Square Pharma, the most other active shares in terms of value included Beximco Pharmaceuticals, BBS Cables, Olympic Industries, IFAD Autos, National Tubes, Singer Bangladesh, Pharma Aids and Monno Ceramic.
The Beximco Pharma was third on the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 185 million changing hands. The company's share price closed at Tk 110.40, advancing 0.27 per cent over the previous day.
BBS Cables clinched the fourth spot, with shares worth Tk 140 million changing hands. The company's share price advanced 1.0 per cent to close at Tk 110.70, following its quarterly earnings news on the day.
BBS Cables posted a 160 per cent rise in earnings per share (EPS) for the October-December period of 2017, compared to the corresponding period a year ago.
The un-audited second quarter (October-December, 2017) earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk 2.16 against Tk 0.83 for the October-December quarter in 2016.
Olympic Industries emerged fifth with shares worth Tk 119 million changing hands. The company's share price closed at Tk 286.20, advancing 1.56 per cent over the previous day.
IFAD Autos saw its shares worth Tk 108 million change hands. The company's share price fell 0.58 per cent to close at Tk 134.90.
The National Tubes also found its way to the top ten turnover chart, with shares worth Tk 86 million changing hands, followed by Singer Bangladesh with Tk 84 million, Pharma Aids Tk 77 million and Monno Ceramic Tk 74 million.
