Banks shine as DGEN reaches a new high

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FE Report
The benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) reached Wednesday the all-time high level, driven mainly by banks.
The market started with a bullish sentiment that persisted until the end of the trading session on the day, as the investors chose to put in their money in banking stocks.
The DSE General Index (DGEN), the yardstick of the market, was up by 1.40 per cent or 120.74 points to a new high of 8723.18, beating the previous high of 8721.08, recorded just a week back.
The broader DSE All Shares Price Index (DSI) gained 1.36 per cent or 97.03 points to end at 7232.20. The DSE-20 blue chip index was up by 1.38 per cent or 70.91 points to reach 5190.03.
"The bank stocks are soaring, as investors are finding those to be attractive in terms of fundamentals. They are expecting better dividend announcements, stock dividend in particular, at the end of the year," Akter H Sannamat, managing director of the Prime Finance and Investment Ltd, said.
Banking issues, the bellwether of the DSE, went up by 2.91 per cent and contributed 42 per cent of the day's total turnover. Seven banks secured the top-ten turnover list.
Grameenphone, the most weighted issue in the DSE, was up slightly by 0.72 per cent.
Among others, non-banking and financial institutions lost while fuel & power issues closed flat.
Turnover increased significantly to Tk 24.79 billion, up by 29 per cent over the previous session. Out of 234 issues traded, 149 advanced, 80 declined and five other remained unchanged.
The value of the stocks of the UCBL changed hands on the day was the highest, Tk 1.26 billion.