The turnover on the premier bourse declined to Tk 40.52 crore yesterday while it was Tk 79.87 crore on Monday and Tk 50.52 crore on Tuesday.

Market analysts said the institutional investors like banks and financial institutions, which play an important role in keeping the market vibrant, were less interested in putting money in the market yesterday.

They also attributed the recent upward trends, which reversed a prolonged bearish trend since the second half of 2005, mainly to pre-election spree, coupled with a series of positive corporate culture and a relatively peaceful political environment.

Besides, they said, liquidity situation on the stock market also improved in recent times as the inter-bank call money rate eased, which encouraged the institutional investors, including merchant banks, to channel their funds to the stock market.

"Fresh funds are coming into the market," a DSE broker said, adding that with the improvement of liquidity situation at the money market recently, large investors became active and market achieved an upward trend.

"The upward trend also drew huge number of small investors into the usual trading," the broker said.

DSE Chief Executive Officer Salahuddin Ahmed described such ups and downs in the stock market as a natural phenomenon. "However, participation of the institutional investors in the bourse was less than it was in some previous days which prompted the DSE to witness the low turnover," he said.

Although the turnover declined on the DSE, the bourse closed higher with gainers outnumbering losers.

The DSE General Index rose by 7.90 points or 0.51 per cent to close at 1539.71789 points from Tuesday's 1531.81 points while the DSE All Share Price Index increased by 16.59 points or 1.36 per cent to close at 1230.43 points from 1213.84 points on previous trading day.

A total of 40,24,473 shares of 198 issues worth Tk 40.52 crore changed hands on the DSE yesterday. Of the issues traded, 108 closed in gains, 54 suffered losses and 36 remained unchanged.

RUPALI BANK'S SHARE PRICE UP

As an Appellate Division of Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended for a week the execution of the High Court's stay on the process of selling the state-run Rupali Bank, share price of the bank went up by 15.11 per cent to close at Tk 1152 yesterday while the price went as high as Tk 1200 on the same day.

On the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), share price of Rupali Bank went up by 17.74 per cent to close at Tk 1176.25.

Market sources said many investors are putting their money in the banking company as the selling process of Rupali Bank is going on.

Rupali ended up as the day's second best gainer on DSE and top gainer on CSE. A total of 32,110 shares of Rupali Bank worth Tk 3.70 crore were traded on DSE yesterday while 30,040 shares worth Tk 3.53 crore changed hands on CSE.