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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh’s stocks ended higher on Tuesday with turnover hitting nearly eight months high as investors put fresh stakes on stocks.

Brokers said low interest rates on bank deposits and dividend expectation of June-ending companies prompted investors to take position in stocks, taking the turnover nearly eight months high.

Turnover, an important indicator of the market, stood at BDT 10.88 billion on the country’s premier bourse, climbing further by 21 percent over previous day’s mark of BDT 9.01 billion.

It was the biggest single-day transaction in the last eight months since November 21, 2017, when the turnover totaled a record Tk 10.91 billion.

Along with turnover, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), also went up by 30 points or 0.56 percent to settle at 5,371.

The two other indices also edged higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 1.08 points to settle at 1,911 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 2.76 points to close at 1,271.

Of the traded issues, 183 closed higher, 99 ended lower with 57 issues remaining unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

The newly listed Bashundhara Paper Mills topped the turnover chart with 2.77 million shares worth BDT 458 million changing hands, closely followed by BBS Cables, Ratanpur Steel Re-rolling Mills, Pacific Denims and Paramount Textile.

The Peninsula Chittagong was the day’s highest gainer, posting a gain of 10 percent while the Aramit was the worst loser, losing 6.67 percent.

The port city bourse CSE also ended higher with its All Share Price Index – CASPI – advancing 87 points to settle at 16,548 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX –gaining 53 points to finish at 10,012.

The gainers beat losers as 152 issues closed higher, 73 ended lower and 25 remained unchanged on the CSE.

The port city bourse traded 19.52 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than BDT 621 million in turnover.

BBN/SSR/SR