Dhaka stocks traded mostly higher for a third week with investors chasing market heavyweight Titas Gas.
The state-run company accounted for 10.65 percent of turnover last week.
The investors, especially the retailers, were upbeat for Titas shares on rumours that the company would declare a healthy dividend in the upcoming corporate disclosure, market insiders said.
The investors expect as high as 45 percent to 50 percent dividends by Titas Gas, the insiders said.
On the week-on-week basis, the benchmark of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSE General Index, rose 47.2 points, or 1.68 percent, to 2850.17 points. The DSE All Share Price Index increased 8.96 points, or 0.37 percent, to 2406.71 points on Thursday, the last trading day of the week.
Total turnover rose 25.32 percent to Tk 1,729.80 crore from the previous week's Tk 1,380.28 crore. Daily average turnover was Tk 345.96 crore against Tk 276.05 crore of the week-earlier-period, which was a 25.32 percent rise.
Total transactions grew 54.03 percent to 12,60,81,947 shares last week against 8,18,58,090 shares of the previous week.
Most securities traded up throughout the week. Of the issues traded on the premier bourse, 121 scrips advanced, 118 declined and 12 ended unchanged.
Total market capitalisation increased 0.58 percent to Tk 99,421.87 crore last week over the previous week's Tk 98,846.71 crore.
Titas Gas topped the list of turnover leaders for a sixth week. A total of 38,88,750 shares of Titas worth Tk 184.15 crore traded on the DSE.
The other turnover leaders for the week were Beximco, ACI, ICB AMCL 2nd NRB Mutual Fund, Grameen 1 Scheme 2, Lanka Bangla Finance, AIMS 1st Mutual Fund, Beximco Pharma, S Alam Cold Rolled Steels and Union Capital.
Chittagong stocks also rose last week. The CSE Selective Categories Index increased 1.03 percent to 5715.95 points, while the CSE All Share Price Index gained 0.85 percent to 8739.47 points.
Majority of the scrips traded up through last week. Of the 169 issues traded on Chittagong Stock Exchange, 103 advanced, 59 dropped and seven remained unchanged.
A total of 2,37,78,530 shares worth Tk 224.40 crore changed hands on the port city bourse last week.