Banking, ins issues continue to boost DSE indices

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FE Report
Dhaka stocks rose sharply Wednesday, led by banking and insurance issues.
The DSE General Index (DGEN) - the benchmark index- finished at 2539.46 with a gain of 72.07 points, the single-day biggest rise in two months.
The lower price of the banking stocks has continued to attract the investors, sending the market into the green, according to the stockbrokers.
With the gain on the day, the share prices at the prime bourse rose for the third consecutive sessions, backed by mainly banking stocks, which were under pressure for long due to financial downturn.
"The banking stocks have pulled the market up," said Mahmudul Bari, head of merchant banking division of the IDLC Finance Ltd. "The low price of the banking stocks has changed the investors' mood," he added.
He, however, remained skeptical over the sustainability of the market's gain. "It's hard to say the market's sustainability as the investors-particularly large ones-remained pessimistic over the banks future prospects amid global financial meltdown," said Bari.
Today's rally of banking stocks has created a sense of relief among the investors although these stocks were under pressure for long, he pointed out.
According to EPL research cell, market rose sharply as banks continued to rally with most of the sectors gaining.
Nearly all banks, insurances, most of the non-banking financial institutions, pharmaceuticals, tanneries, cement, power and energy issues gained, while almost all mutual funds lost, it said.
The All Shares Price Index (DSI) and DSE-20 comprising blue chip gained 55.58 points and 42.32 points to end at 2107.66 and 1975.55 respectively.
Out of 238 issues traded, 165 advanced, 70 declined and three remained unchanged.
The turnover increased to Tk 4.0 billion against Tk 3.89 billion on Monday while the market capitalisation was Tk 1.01 trillion. The DSE remained closed Tuesday because of public holiday on the occasion of Bangla New Year.
Beximco continued to retain the top turnover leader position with shares worth Tk 321.35 million traded. Other turnover leaders were Summit Power, Uttara Bank, AB Bank, S Alam Cold Rolled Steels Ltd, DESCO, Shinepukur Ceramics Ltd, National Bank Ltd, BRAC Bank and Beximco Pharma.
The day's top gainers were Central Insurance, IFIC Bank, Karnaphuli Insurance, Prime Insurance, Rupali Insurance, Janata Insurance, Peoples Insurance, Phoenix Insurance, Nitol Insurance and Federal Insurance.
The top losers were Meghna Pet, BCIL, Quasem Textile, Modern Cement, Padma Cement, Samorita Hospital and Excelsior Shoes.