Stocks eked out some gains on Wednesday, the penultimate trading day of the week, as investors stopped selling shares amid expectations.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 17.76 points or 0.32 per cent to finish at 5,429 after losing 111 points in the past two sessions.
The broad index witnessed booming trend from the very beginning of the day and eventually reached peak at 5,460 points within first 30 minutes before closing marginally higher.
Market insiders said interest rate cut news on banks in phases and latest warning to financial institutions over attracting depositors via messages gave a positive signal to the stock investors.
Two other indices of the DSE also edged up. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 2.88 points to settle at 1968 and the DSE Shariah index rose 6.28 points to close at 1,266.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also rose to Tk 7.03 billion, which was 10 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 6.39 billion.
Of the traded issues, 191 closed higher, 107 closed lower and 41 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Monno Ceramic Industries was the most traded stocks on the DSE turnover chart with shares worth Tk 253 million changing hands, closely followed by Ratanpur Steels, Alif Industries, Square Pharmaceuticals and Queen South Textile.
Orion Infusion was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent while the SEML Lecture Equity Management Fund was the worst loser, losing 8.33 per cent.
The port city bourse—CSE—also closed higher with its CSE All Share Price Index–CASPI—advancing 45 points to settle at 16,672.
CSCX, the Selective Categories Index of the CSE, also gained 26 points to finish at 10,078.
The gainers beat the losers as 142 issues closed higher, 76 ended lower and 32 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city’s bourse traded 7.39 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 412 million in turnover.
babulfexpress@gmail.com