Stocks edged higher for the second straight session on Wednesday with turnover surpassing Tk 11 billion-mark after eight months on the major bourse.
The market opened on upward trend and the key index of the major bourse crossing the 5,450-mark, gaining over 100 points within first hour of trading.
But profit booking sale pressure in the later part of the session led the prime index to close only 7.94 points high.
Finally, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,379 points, advancing only 7.94 points or 0.15 per cent.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also advanced 3.48 points to finish at 1,915 points. But, the DSE Shariah Index fell 4.03 points to close at 1,267.
“Investors from both sides of the trading fence were active throughout the trading session, taking the market in flat zone,” said a stockbroker.
Turnover, an important indicator of the market, rose to Tk 11.15 billion, which was 2.48 per cent higher than the previous session’s turnover of Tk 10.88 billion.
It was also the eight months highest single-day turnover since November 20, 2017 when turnover was recorded Tk 11.58 billion.
Of the traded issues, 157 declined, 153 advanced and 31 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
The newly listed Bashundhara Paper Mills topped the DSE turnover chart with shares worth nearly Tk 400 million changing hands, closely followed by The Peninsula Chittagong, Ratanpur Steel, BBS Cables and Beximco.
The port city bourse CSE also finished higher with its CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – advancing 88 points to settle at 16,637 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX – gaining 56 points to finish at 10,068.
The losers beat gainers as 122 issues closed lower, 110 ended higher, with 18 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 18.75 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 585 million in turnover.
