Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Dhaka stocks closed higher on Sunday amid volatile trading as optimism grew among the investors following the compensation news of small investors on margin loan.
Market insiders said that though the market witnessed volatility most part of the trading session, it went to positive after the finance minister’s announcement of 50 per cent interest waiver on marginal loans of small inventors.
“Finance minister’s declaration regarding interest waiver on margin loan as well as IPO quota for the small investors may have lifted the sentiment a bit at the later part of the day’s trading,” stated LankaBnagla Securities in its daily market analysis.
The market opened with a negative note and lost more than 40 points within five minutes. After that it swung between positive and negative territories several times throughout the whole session and finally closed 23 points higher.
The benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DGEN), the main gauge of the market went up by 23.91 points or 0.52 per cent to close at 4,577.68.
Turnover value declined substantially and stood at BDT 2.73 billion down by 33.08 percent compared to BDT 4.08 billion in the previous session.
Out of 256 issues traded, 156 advanced, 78 declined while 22 remained unchanged.
 
A total of 65.13 million shares changed hands on the day against 95.58 million in the previous session. The trade deals also declined to 94,333 against Thursday’s 121,080.
The total market capitalization of the DSE stood at BDT 2,377.52 billion against BDT 2,368.99 billion in the previous session.
All the major sectors closed higher on the day except banks and telecommunications which lost 0.77 percent and 0.19 percent respectively.
Non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) posted the largest gain among all the sectors and gained 2.87 percent, while fuel and power 0.75 percent and pharmaceuticals 0.41 percent.
BATBC gained 3.04 percent on the day following its corporate declaration of 370 percent final cash dividend.
Beximco Limited topped the turnover chart with shares worth BDT 124.63 million changed hands.
The other turnover leaders were United Airways, Peoples Leasing, Summit Power, Jamuna Oil, GP, RN Spinning, Aftab Automobiles, BD Thai and MI Cement.
Peoples Leasing was the day’s highest gainer posting a rise of 8.66 percent.
It was followed by International Leasing, FAS Finance, Premier Leasing, Uttara Finance, Rangpur Dairy and Food Products, IPDC, Stylcraft, Singer BD and Mithun Knitting.
The day’s worst losers included Eastern Bank, AB Bank, Prime Insurance, Mutual Trust Bank, Jute Spinners, Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills, Aziz Pipes, Apex Spinning, AMCL (Pran) and Trust Bank.
BBN/BB/SSR/-05Mar12-7:40 am (BST)