Stocks posted a marginal gain on Wednesday as some investors showed their buying appetite on sector specific large-cap issues.
Market insiders said bargain hunters showed their buying spree, particularly telecommunication issue, taking the market in the green territory.
The telecommunication sector posted the highest gain of 2.36 per cent as Grameenphone (GP) share jumped 2.38 per cent or Tk 8.80 each to close at Tk 379 each.
GP's share price increased riding on the news that its net profit rose 26.6 per cent to Tk 26.10 billion in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period a year ago, said a stockbroker.
Earnings per share for January-September were Tk 19.32. It was Tk 15.88 during the same period a year ago.
Following the recent sharp fall, the market opened higher on Wednesday and the positive trend sustained till end of the session amid modest volatility.
Finally, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,276, advancing 23.65 points or 0.45 per cent over the previous day.
Two other indices also edged higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 8.05 points to finish at 1,872 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 6.40 points to close at 1,218.
According to LankaBangla Securities, this upward shift in the index is mainly driven by significant positive changes in some of the large-cap like power, financial institutions and telecommunication.
Among other large-cap sectors, financial institutions gained 2.12 per cent, followed by power with 1.10 per cent.
Banking, pharmaceuticals, food and engineering sectors also gained 0.43 per cent, 0.38 per cent, 0.37 per cent and 0.36 per cent respectively.
A total number of 102,853 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 98.34 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE rose to Tk 3,831 billion on Wednesday which was Tk 3,803 billion in the previous day.
The gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 341 issues traded, 155 advanced, 145 declined and 41 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco topped the DSE turnover chart with 8.47 million shares worth Tk 213 million changing hands, closely followed by Khulna Power Company, BBS Cables, Shahjalal Islami Bank and Summit Power.
BD Finance was the best performer, posting a gain of 9.49 per cent while Meghna Pet Industries was the worst loser, losing 8.50 per cent.
The port city bourse CSE ended higher with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -advancing 82 points to settle at 16,216 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX -gaining 52 points to finish at 9,826.
The gainers beat losers as 109 issues closed higher, 86 ended lower and 31 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 7.97 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 220 million in turnover.
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