BBN file photo

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Bangladesh’s stocks closed higher on Wednesday, despite heavy rainfall which cripples city life, as optimistic investors continued their buying spree amid optimism.
Brokers said the market finished higher as the central bank unveiled the growth-supportive monetary policy during the trading hours.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) unveiled the Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) for the first half of the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18 on Wednesday, aiming to create more employment opportunities through boosting investment particularly in productive sectors.
The market started with a positive note and core index of the major bourse rose nearly 19 points within first hour of trading and kid-session saw some sale pressure.
But rest of the session went up steadily, finally ended more than 22 points higher.
DHAKA STOCK EXCHANGE:
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 22.53 points or 0.38 percent to settle at 5,824 points.
Two other indices also closed higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips advanced 7.10 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 2,131.
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) rose 4.86 points or 0.37 percent to close at 1,317.
Turnover, the important indicator of the market, stood at BDT 6.38 billion on the DSE, which was 2.74 percent lower than the previous day’s turnover of BDT 6.56 billion.
A total number of 0.094 million trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 191.87 million securities.
The total market capitalisation of the DSE also rose to BDT 3,928 billion which was BDT 3,912 billion in the previous day.
Gainers took a strong lead over the losers as 330 issues traded, 177 closed higher, 95 closed lower and 58 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
IDLC Finance topped the turnover chart with about 3.68 million shares of BDT 278 million changing hands, closely followed by LankaBangla Finance BDT 246 million, Brac Bank BDT 245 million, GrameenPhone BDT 227 million and RAK Ceramics BDT 184 million.
Safko Spinning Mills was the day’s highest gainer, posting a 7.41 percent rise, while Phoenix Finance First Mutual Fund was the worst loser, losing by 2.35 percent.
CHITTAGONG STOCK EXCHANGE:
The port city bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also closed higher with its Selective Categories Index – CSCX – advancing 29 points to settle at 10,908 points.
Gainers beat losers as 142 issues closed higher, 80 closed lower and 34 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 13.82 million shares and mutual fund units’ worth BDT 380 million in turnover.
BBN/SS/ANS