Stocks rally amid growing investor presence

The country’s premier bourse Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) witnessed a steady rally this week, helping both indices and turnover swell up radically.

The DSEX, the key index of the DSE, added 35.5 points or 0.6 per cent to settle at 6,326, as investors continued putting fresh into the recently rallied stocks throughout the week.

Among other indices, the DS30, the blue-chip index, gained 3.22 points to 2,198, and the DSES, the Shariah-based index, rose 2.53 points to close at 1,370 this week.

Turnover, another crucial market indicator, averaged out at Tk 917 crore this week, which was 24.63 per cent higher than Tk 735 crore in the previous week.

The life insurance sector reined in the turnover chart, with a contribution of 14.28 per cent of total turnover of the DSE in the week.

Many investors especially foreigners, according to stockbrokers and analysts, were now pouring big funds into fresh equities following the recent vibrancy in the market, helping the market register a record jump in its daily turnover value.

The insurance stocks played the pivotal role behind the bullish trend of the market, as investors were heavily concentrated on the sector, helping the key index jump significantly, analysts and stockbrokers said.

A recent announcement that no vehicles would be allowed to ply on streets without insurance coverage, produced significant investor optimism about the insurance securities, they added.

The market performed five sessions this week, with the capital bourse facing a correction of 0.14 per cent on Sunday.

The market, however, rebounded on Monday with a gain of 0.01 per cent, and also remained positive on Tuesday with a 0.39 per cent positive return.

However, the market closed on slightly lower Wednesday. Finally, the market closed on Thursday with a gain of 0.31 per cent.

The capital bourse extended its gaining streak for two consecutive weeks, as buoyant investors started to put fresh funds in sector-specific and recently rallied stocks following the restoration of investor confidence across the trading floor, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its weekly market review.

Brac EPL, another stockbroker, said in its weekly market review that all the financial sectors posted positive performance this week, with the life insurance booking the highest gain of 7.79 per cent, followed by general insurance (3.43 per cent), mutual fund (0.43 per cent), bank (0.13 per cent), and NBFI (0.01 per cent).

Out of the issues traded, 118 advanced, 69 declined, and 202 remained unchanged on the Dhaka bourse this week.