Business Desk :
Stocks extended the gaining streak for the third straight session on Thursday with rising turnover as investors continued to put fresh bets on sector-wise shares.
The market opened sharply higher, following the previous day’s upbeat trend and the key index soared about 69 points within the first hour of trading. But, the rest of the session wiped-out most of the early gains amid profit booking sell-offs.
DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 13.74 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 6,995.
DSEX added more than 196 points in the past three consecutive sessions after losing 568 points in a month from its recent peak.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also gained 20.22 points to finish at 2,680. However, the DSE Shariah Index dropped slightly by 1.31 points to end at 1,477.
Turnover, the crucial indicator of the market, crossed Tk 15 billion after nine trading days and amounted to Tk 15.06 billion on the country’s premier bourse, which was 29.5 per cent higher than the previous day’s tally of Tk 11.63 billion.
The losers, however, took a modest lead over the gainer, as out of 373 issues traded, 208 declined, 115 advanced and 50 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 200,528 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 320.22 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also rose to Tk 5,564 billion, up from the previous day’s mark of Tk 5,560 billion.
Beximco – the flagship company of Beximco Group- topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 3.42 billion changing hands, followed by Genex Infosys (Tk 866 million), Orion Pharma (Tk 649 million), IFIC Bank (Tk 609 million) and NRB Commercial Bank (Tk 574 million).
Brac Bank was the day’s highest gainer, posting a gain of 9.93 per cent following the news that Japan’s SoftBank to buy 20 per cent stakes of bKash. bKash is a subsidiary of Brac Bank.
Alif Manufacturing Company was the day’s worst loser, losing 13.82 per cent following the news of its ‘lower than expected’ corporate declarations.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended higher for the third straight day with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)-rising 63 points to close at 20,528 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX – gaining 39 points to close at 12,317.
Of the issues traded, 146 declined, 106 advanced and 40 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 13.12 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 458 million.
