Share price index at the country’s twin bourses – Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) –registered gain on the first day of the new year on Wednesday, despite political turmoil across the country over the January 5 general election. The ruling Awami League is moving ahead to hold the election unilaterally without opposition’s participation while the opposition BNP-led alliance began enforcing non-stop countrywide blockade since Wednesday morning to resist the polls. However, foreign diplomats are making parleys as last minute effort to reach a compromise between the two confronting sides. For a couple of months, the country’s whole trade and business came to a virtual standstill because of the confrontational politics that left more than a hundred people killed and several thousand others injured. Despite such abnormal situation, both the DSE and the CSE began trading on Wednesday on positive note and ended the day with moderate gain after few ups and downs. This has been the third consecutive session with gain in a week while trading at the two bourses was suspended on Tuesday, being the last day of the year, which was also a bank holiday. The volume of trade in terms of value and number was higher on Wednesday at both the bourses than on Monday. The DSE benchmark index, DSEX gained 19.60 points or 0.45 percent to reach 4286.15 at the close of trading today (Wednesday). Of the 291 issues traded, 165 gained, 97 declined and 29 remained unchanged. Most of the traded issues of the day included those from chemical and petroleum, textiles, banking, and ceramics sector. Shares worth Tk 411.97 crore changed hands at the DSE on the day against Tk 381.83 crore on Wednesday. The day’s top 10 gainers at the DSE were Padma Oil, IDLC, Meghna Petroleum, Aramit, BIFC, Apex Adelchi Footwear, Mutual Trust Bank, Ibn Sina, Active Fine Ceramics, and 3rd ICB Mutual Fund. Lanka Bangla, Golden Son, Generation Next, RN Spinning and Apollo Ispat were the top most traded issues in terms of both value and volume of trade at the DSE. The CSE key index, CSCX gained 45.56 points to reach 8322.92 at the close today. Of the 212 issues traded, 106 advanced, 80 suffered loss and 26 remained unchanged. The value of the traded issues was Tk 43.41 crore on the day against Tk 39.39 crore on Wednesday. – UNB
