DSEX crosses 4,700-mark after five months

Stocks witnessed sharp gain Tuesday, the opening day after Eid holidays with prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) crossing the 4,700-mark as investors continued their buying spree.
The market resumed after six-day Eid holidays with higher note and extended the winning spell for the seven consecutive sessions, riding on banking and cement stocks. DSEX also added around 205 points in the past seven sessions, hitting around five-month high.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, crossed the 4,700-mark and ended at 4,731.32, gaining 75.17 points or 1.61 per cent. It was also the steepest single-day gain in the last two months.
The two other indices also closed higher.  The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, rose 37.46 points or 2.05 per cent to close at 1,858.34. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) advanced 16.92 points or 1.47 per cent to settle at 1,164.14.
Turnover stood at Tk 4.93 billion on the main bourse, which was 5.35 per cent lower than the previous day's Tk 5.20 billion.
The participants kept their focus concentrated on pharma, engineering and power - the sectors that accounted for 19 per cent, 17 per cent and 16 per cent of the day's total turnover.
"Market ended in green zone as investors went bullish on banking and cement stocks," said LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, in an analysis.
The cement and banking sector gained 5.0 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively, thereby pooling up the benchmark index by 75 points, said the stockbroker.
Pharma stocks also contributed most to the market turnover.
"Investors' are eyeing on imminent half-yearly earnings of financial and manufacturing stocks," the stockbroker added.
IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, said, "Market appeared to be gaining strength from a clear coast ahead in economic and political frontier".
With the advancement booked, the broad index closed at four and half months' high of 4,731.3 points. The day was even rosier for the blue chip stocks as DS30 increased by hefty 2.06 per cent, said the merchant bank.
Dividend and earnings declaration of three large-cap issues -- GP, BATBC and Square Pharma entered the market, but they appeared to have missed investors' expectations as they lost 2.02 per cent, 0.3 per cent and 0.5 per cent earning respectively.
"Several issues from sectors like cement, bank, fuel and power seized the investor's attention and outperformed the market's return," said International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker.
Meanwhile, holiday hangover persisted and it was reflected in the lower investors' participation as turnover declined 5.35 per cent despite four hour trading session, said the stockbroker.
Almost all the major sectors green where cement, engineering, bank, fuel and power, NBFI, and pharma  gained 5.0 per cent, 2.9 per cent, 2.5 per cent, 2.0 per cent, 1.4 per cent, and 0.9 per cent respectively, while telecommunication was down by 1.9 per cent.
The gainers took a strong lead over the losers as out of 317 issues traded, 228 advanced, 61 declined and 28 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Activities decreased in the major bourse where volume was down by 8.15 per cent while trade was marginally up by 0.78 per cent. A total number of 0.110 million trades were executed with trading volume of 107.82 million securities.
The market capitalisation on DSE stood at Tk 3,335.98 billion against Tk 3,303.90 billion in the previous trading session.
Lafarge Surma Cement was the day's top turnover leader with shares worth Tk 422 million changing hands followed by GP, ACI, KPCL and RAK Ceramics.
Shahjibazar Power Company was the day's best performer, posting a rise of 9.95 per cent while Prime Life Insurance was the day's worst loser, plunging by 12.64 per cent.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed higher for the seventh sessions in a row with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - rose 139 points to close at 8,853.
Gainers beat losers 147 to 60, with 29 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 11 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover of Tk 450 million.
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