Stocks ended marginally higher on Wednesday, after choppy trading, as investors showed buying interest on power and pharma issues ahead of corporate declarations.
The market opened on a sharp rise and the key index rose more than 75 points within the first 25 minutes. But late hours profit booking on selective large-cap stocks eroded most of the initial gain.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up 19.66 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 7,351 points after adding 3.85 points in the previous day.
The two other indices also edged higher to set at new highs. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips advanced 9.69 points to finish at 2,787 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) rose 5.82 points or to close at 1,600.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, rose to Tk 26.81 billion on the prime bourse, which was 14 per cent higher than the previous day's tally of Tk 23.52 billion.
Market insiders said the optimistic investors showed their buying spree, particularly on power, pharma and textile sector stocks although profit taking was still on the other major sectors.
Investors are investing on selective stocks as the rising trend of the market gave them the hope that the index would go up further, said a merchant banker.
The government high ups and chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) recently said there is nothing to be worried about the present position of the stock market.
As the securities regulator and the government's high ups have been claiming that the index is not overvalued, investors get some confidence, said the merchant banker.
The optimistic investors showed their appetite on June-closing stocks, particularly on power and pharma sectors ahead of earnings and dividend declarations, according to International Leasing Securities.
Among the major sectors, power posted the highest gain of 2.80 per cent, followed by pharma with 1.10 per cent and textile 0.40 per cent.
On the other hand, financial institutions saw the biggest hit, losing 3.20 per cent, followed by general insurance 2.50 per cent, cement 1.80 per cent, telecom 1.0 per cent and banking 0.80 per cent.
A total number of 334,220 trades were executed in the day's trading session with a trading volume of 545.93 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE, however, dropped further to Tk 5,806 billion on Wednesday, from Tk 5,815 billion in the previous day.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 374 issues traded, 231 closed lower, 112 higher and 31 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, which saw 2.18 per cent correction after recent rally, topped the day's
turnover chart with shares worth Tk 1.74 billion changing hands, closely followed by Orion Pharma (Tk 1.52 billion), Beximco (Tk 1.30 billion), Power Grid Company (Tk 916 million) and Paramount Textile (564 million).
The state-run Power Grid Company was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 9.95 per cent while Aman Feed was the day's worst loser, plunging by 8.95 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended marginally higher with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -gaining 81 points to settle at 21,514 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX - rising 49 points to close at 12,922.
Of the issues traded, 196 declined, 102 advanced and 27 remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.
The port-city bourse traded 25.79 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 1.16 billion.
