Stocks extended the winning spell for the second day in a row on Wednesday as optimistic investors continued their buying appetite on selective large-cap stocks, especially Lafarge Surma Cement.
Share prices of the multinational cement maker, Lafarge soared 7.16 per cent to close at Tk 70.30 on the day. It was also the day’s top gainer.
Lafarge share prices soared 34.78 per cent or Tk 18.90 each in the past four consecutive sessions as Lafarge finally agreed to buy Holcim Bangladesh at around Tk 5.04 billion, a price that was previously set by the Bangladesh Bank.
“As Lafarge is the seventh largest market cap listed company in the Bangladesh’s capital market, its price movement affect overall market,” said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
The market started the day with positive movement and middle of the session it saw some sale pressure, but last hour’s strong buying helped the key index to close nearly 19 points higher.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 6,186, gaining 18.89 points or 0.31 per cent over the previous day.
The two other indices also closed higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips rose 16.46 points or 0.73 per cent to close at 2,261. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) advanced 7.58 points or 0.55 per cent to finish at 1,379.
Turnover, the crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 5.52 billion, which was 49 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 3.71 billion.
However, the losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 335 issues traded, 191 closed lower, 91 closed higher and 53 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Lafarge Surma Cement topped the day’s turnover chart with 16.02 million shares of Tk 1.13 billion changing hands, followed by Olympic Industries, Islami Bank, City Bank, Paramount textile and Nahee Aluminum.
Lafarge was the day’s best performer for the second day in a row, posting a gain of 7.16 per cent while Progressive Life Insurance was the day’s worst loser, shedding 7.60 per cent.
The port city bourse – the Chittagong Stock Exchange – (CSE) also edged higher with CSE All Shares Price Index of – advancing 39 points to finish at 19,123.
The Selective Categories Index of the port city bourse -- CSCX – also gained 26 points to settle at 11,562.
Losers beat gainers as 133 issues closed lower, 70 closed higher and 37 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 18.14 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 671 million in turnover.
