Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Shares of Lafarge Surma Cement changed hands voluminously after its French parent company made an announcement over the weekend that it was in advanced merger talks with Switzerland's cement giant Holcim.

A total of 8.584 million shares of the Bangladesh chapter of one of the world's largest cement makers traded on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Sunday at 1.56 percent higher price over the last week's closing price.

Besides Lafarge Surma, another company of the cement sector, Heidelberg Cement, was on high demand when over 0.80 million shares traded at 7.68 percent higher price.

Similarly, share price of Confident Cement rose by 4.60 percent at close with traded over 0.40 million shares.

Apart from the cement sector, telecommunication, food, pharmaceuticals and fuel and power were among the day's most active issues when some 70 million shares changed hands.

BBN/SSR/AD-06Apr14-9:50 pm (BST)