Stocks edged marginally higher on Wednesday, after a single-day break, as investors were active.
Meanwhile, South Bangla Agriculture & Commerce Bank (SBAC) made a flying trading debut on Wednesday as its share price rose 10 per cent to close at Tk 11 each -- the highest allowable limit, from its issue price of Tk 10.
Only 66 trades were executed with a trading volume of 8,247 shares on debut trading day on Dhaka Stock Exchange.
SBAC Bank raised Tk 1.0 billion by issuing 100 million ordinary shares by issuing 100 million shares at a face-value of Tk 10 each. Every investor got a minimum of 60 shares against the application of Tk 10,000 in the initial public offering (IPO).
The market moved between positive and negative territories several times on Wednesday as the shaky investors tried to book profits while bargain hunters remained on buying mood.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went up by 5.48 points or 0.08 per cent to settle at 6,623, after losing 10.30 points in the previous day.
Two other indices also edged higher with the DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, advanced 13.55 points to finish at 2,397 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) rose 1.60 points to close at 1,444.
Market analysts said investors showed buying appetite on the selective large-cap issues amid optimism owing to reopening of the economy and revival of some specific sectors' activity.
However, a section of investors preferred booking profits as the market indices reached a historical high in two days earlier, they said.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, fell to Tk 22.12 billion, which was 22 per cent lower than the previous day's tally of Tk 28.40 billion.
Turnover fell significantly as Bangladesh Bank's decision to mop up excess liquidity in the banking sector made investors cautious, said a merchant banker.
Buoyancy in cement, miscellaneous and telecom sectors helped the index to close in green despite sell pressure in engineering, mutual fund, insurance and power sectors, commented International Leasing Securities.
Major sectors showed mixed performances with cement posted the highest gain of 1.70 per cent, followed by miscellaneous with 1.60 per cent, telecom 0.60 per cent and pharmaceuticals 0.20 per cent.
On the hand, engineering sector lost the most of 2.60 per cent as the sector heavyweight Walton plunged 3.87 per cent alone, followed by general insurance 0.40 per cent, power 0.30 per cent, financial institutions 0.20 per cent and banking 0.10 per cent.
Losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 376 issues traded, 236 declined, 111 advanced and 29 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco - the flagship company of Beximco Group- continued to dominate the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 2.0 billion changing hands, followed by IFIC Bank (Tk 973 million), Malek Spinning (Tk 653 million), LafargeHolcim (Tk 649 million) and Islamic Finance (Tk 466 million).
Debutant SBAC Bank was the day's top gainer hitting the upper limit circuit breaker with 10 per cent rise, while Nurai Dyeing was the worst loser, losing 6.60 per cent.
A total number of 318,578 trades were executed in the day's trading session with a trading volume of 713.49 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE fell slightly to Tk 5,447 billion on Wednesday, down from previous the day's Tk 5,450 billion.
However, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), edged lower with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -losing 4.23 points to settle at 19,277 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX shedding 3.0 points to close at 11,563.
Of the issues traded, 195 declined, 94 advanced and 29 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city's bourse traded 41.68 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 881 million.
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