Stocks extended the winning streak for another session on Wednesday with the key index of the prime bourse crossing the 4800-mark again.
Investors continued their appetite for sector-wise issues riding on the regulator’s recent steps to ensure accountability of the market stakeholders.
DSEX, the core index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 46 points or 0.96 per cent to settle at 4,827.
Market operators said the enthusiastic investors put fresh stakes on large-cap stocks amid the growing confidence in the market riding on regulatory moves to restore discipline in the country’s capital market.
Lower returns on the money market, lucrative price level of securities, strong regulatory actions against wrongdoers and expansionary monetary policy helped buoy the market, said a merchant banker.
He noted that the high net worth investors are injecting fresh funds into the market in the past few weeks targeting capital gains as returns from the money market have declined significantly.
The securities regulator’s recent strict stance on ensuring mandatory 2.0 per cent shareholding by each director and jointly 30 per cent shareholding had also a positive impact on the stock prices, he said.
Two other indices of the prime bourse also ended higher. Of them, DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 18.51 points to finish at 1,679 and DSE Shariah Index gained 12.32 points to close at 1,126.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, however, remained below a Tk 10 billion-mark for the past five straight sessions. The latest or Wednesday’s session saw a turnover of Tk 7.83 billion on the premier bourse while it was Tk 7.86 billion in the previous session.
Gainers outnumbered the losers, as out of 358 issues traded, 198 closed higher, 107 ended lower while 53 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
A total of 178,622 trades were executed in the day’s session with 237.43 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap on the premier bourse rose to Tk 3,674 billion on Wednesday, from Tk 3,631 billion in the previous session.
Bangladesh Export Import Company (Beximco) topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 542 million changing hands, closely followed by Beximco Pharma, Square Pharma, Orion Pharma and Singer Bangladesh.
Desh Garment was the best performer posting a gain of 10 per cent, while Safko Spinning became the worst loser with a loss of 6.75 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended higher with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI) advancing 99 points to close at 13,734 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX - gaining 60 points to finish at 8,302.
Of the issues traded, 112 gained, 102 declined and 53 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 9.78 million shares and mutual fund units with the turnover value of Tk 266 million in total.
