Retailers trade at Dhaka Stock Exchange office. BBN file photo

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh’s stocks posted a marginal gain on Sunday for the fourth straight session as some investors brought shares amid cautious trading.

Market insiders said securities regulator’s positive move on margin loan accounts, lucrative price level coupled with year-end effect helped the market to end higher.

DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,281, advancing 16.45 points or 0.31 percent over the previous day.

The two other indices finished higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 8.64 points to finish at 1,850 and the DSES (Shariah) index gained 4.49 points to settle at 1,213.

Turnover, another important indicator of the market, remained low as the total turnover amounting to BDT 3.53 billion, which was 24 percent higher than the previous day’s turnover of BDT 4.63 billion.

A total number of 102,291 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 89.28 million shares and mutual fund units.

The market cap of DSE increased to BDT 3,819 billion which was BDT 3,809 billion in the previous day.

The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 343 issues traded, 184 closed lower, 118 ended higher and 41 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

Khulna Power Company topped the day’s turnover chart with shares worth BDT 205 million changing hands, closely followed by United Power, IFAD Autos, Paramount Textile and Sonargoan Textile.

Quasem Industries was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.56 percent while EBL First Mutual Fund was the day’s worst loser, shedding 7.69 percent.

The port city bourse CSE edged higher with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI – gaining 59 points to settle at 16,198 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX –advancing 36 points to finish at 9,799.

Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 110 issues closed lower, 95 ended higher and 36 remained unchanged.
The port city bourse traded 7.43 million shares and mutual fund units worth nearly BDT 607 million in turnover.

BBN/SSR/SR