Stocks rally for 6-day as buying binge continues

Dhaka stocks rallied for the sixth straight session on Tuesday amid increased participation of investors in trading.

The benchmark DSEX index rose only 15 points or 0.28 per cent to close at 6,315. The rally was mainly led by paper & printing, services & real estate and pharmaceutical sectors.

The index increased by around 52 points in the first three hours of trading, but more than half of the early gains eroded due to short-term profits booked by risk-averse investors.

Two other indices also closed slightly higher. The blue-chip index DS30 rose 18 points or 0.80 per cent to 2,265 while the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, was up 7 points or 0.55 per cent to 1,387.

The remarkable performance was supported by aggressive volumes as Tuesday recorded the highest turnover of Tk 1,487 crore for the first time in seven months and 0.67 per cent higher than the previous session, backed by the pharmaceutical sector that accounted for 17.27 per cent of the total turnover.

“The prime bourse of the country continued its upward rally, driven by increased participation on the bourse as optimistic investors outnumbered on the trading floor amid growing confidence in the market,” said EBL Securities in its post market commentary.

However, morning optimism failed to sustain and early gains were eroded since investors were enticed into profit-taking in the late session, it said.

Meanwhile, as per the government’s austerity measure, trading hours for the stock exchanges have been reduced from tomorrow.

On the sectoral front, Pharma & Chemical (17.3 per cent) issues exerted the highest turnover followed by Textile (15.6 per cent) and Miscellaneous (12.4 per cent) stocks.

All the sectors displayed mixed returns, out of which Services (1.1 per cent), Pharma & Chemical (1.1 per cent) and Paper (0.9 per cent) exerted the highest returns on the bourse today, while Travel (-1.8 per cent), Ceramic (-1.4 per cent), and Textile (-1.3 per cent) exerted the most corrections at the end of the session.

CSE also settled in green terrain. The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) have advanced by 35.5 and 58.3 points respectively.