Turnover at Dhaka Stock Exchange crossed Tk 700 crore yesterday after one and a half months, with scrips making gains for a third consecutive day riding on companies which account for large amounts in market capitalisation.

Turnover, meaning the total value of shares changing hands on a day, giving an indication of the amount of trading activity, increased 16.64 percent from that on the day before to reach Tk 705 crore.

The pharmaceutical sector dominated, accounting for 15.04 percent of the total, while block trades, meaning large, privately negotiated securities transactions, contributed 15.2 percent.

Pubali Bank was the most traded share, accounting for Tk 37.5 crore of the turnover.

Before the weekend, the market closed in the green with all sectors which account for large amounts in market capitalisation posting a positive performance, according to the daily market update by BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage.

Market capitalisation refers to the value of a company calculated by multiplying the total number of shares by the present share price.

The engineering sector booked the highest gain of 4.32 percent, followed by telecommunication, fuel and power, and pharmaceuticals with 1.82 percent, 1.75 percent, and 1.72 percent respectively.

Bank (0.58 percent), non-bank financial institutions (0.51 percent), and food and allied (0.03 percent) also chalked up gains.

In another daily market update, UCB Stock Brokerage said the rise in turnover had a positive impact on the market.

The engineering, services and real estate and ceramics sectors closed in the positive while travel and leisure sector in the negative.

Large cap stocks such as Renata, Square Pharmaceuticals, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Grameenphone, Olympic Industries, Saif Powertec, Heidelberg Materials, Bangladesh Submarine Cables and Pubali Bank performed well.

As a result, the DSEX, the benchmark index of the country's premier bourse, edged up 52.69 points, or 0.99 percent, to close the day at 5,355.41.

Similarly, the DSES, the index that represents Shariah-based firms, rose 17.69 points, or 1.52 percent, to 1,183.52.

The DS30, the index that comprises the best blue-chip companies, jumped 18.73 points, or 0.98 percent, to 1,922.57.

Out of 401 scrips that changed hands, 246 advanced, 99 edged lower and 56 did not see any price fluctuation.

Bangladesh Lamps dominated the top gainers' list with a rise of 10 percent.

Wata Chemicals, Bangladesh Monospool Paper Manufacturing Company, Crown Cement and Nurani Dyeing & Sweater all logged gains of more than nine percent each.

Paper Processing & Packaging, MIDAS Financing, Envoy Textiles and Regent Textile Mills were also on the gainers' chart.

Linde Bangladesh shed the most, losing 2.99 percent, followed closely by Meghna Life Insurance Company, Atlas Bangladesh and Sonali Life Insurance Company with identical losses of 2.97 percent each.

Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries, Premier Leasing & Finance, Salvo Chemical Industry, Khulna Printing & Packaging and Asiatic Laboratories also suffered losses.

Chittagong Stock Exchange also saw a similar trend as the CASPI, the premier index of the port city, edged up 163.67 points, or 1.09 percent, to settle at 15,088.60 points.