DSEX hits nearly two-year high on buying spree

Stocks witnessed yet another upbeat week that ended Thursday with key index of the premier bourse hitting nearly two -year high amid growing confidence of investors.
Brokers said the market maintained the upward trend for the eighth week in a row as persistent rising scenario coupled with positive regulatory decision lured the investors to put fresh fund on stocks, taking the daily average turnover to Tk 9.35 billion.
"The regulatory decision for extending timeframe for keeping provision against unrealised losses incurred in dealers' and margin accounts maintained by merchant banks and brokerage firms by another year, also jacked investors' confidence up," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
The week witnessed five trading sessions as usual against previous week's four. Of them, three sessions closed higher, while two saw mild correction.
Weak-on-week, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 31.01 points or 0.63 per cent to finish at nearly two years' high at 4,956.73, which was the highest level of DSEX since January 13, 2015, when DSEX was 4,969.73.
"The market has passed another remarkable week with broad index sustained above 4,900-mark throughout the week as enthusiastic investors continued on buying spree," said LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, in its weekly analysis.
The stockbroker noted that the week started with two days of positive movement. However, index went through a two days of correction phase and then regained its positive movement in closing session.
The DSE Shariah Index advanced 3.68 points or 0.52 per cent to close at 1, 1,175.86. However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 9.36 points or 0.52 per cent to settle at 1,796.64.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also maintained the upward movement with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, advancing 87.25 points or 0.95 per cent to close at 9,251.
Investors remained enthusiastic on investing and eventually the total turnover for the week stood at Tk 46.73 billion, which was 28 per cent higher than the previous week's Tk 36.53 billion as last week saw five trading sessions instead of four in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged at Tk 9.35 billion, registering an increase of 2.34 per cent over the previous week's average of Tk 9.13 billion.  It was the highest daily average turnover in a single-week in 2016.
Engineering sector continued to lead the turnover chart, grabbing 23 per cent of the week's total turnover value, followed by pharmaceuticals and textile, capturing 13 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
EBL Securities, a stockbroker, said, "Investor's sentiment regarding the market remains positive that resulted into enhanced market participation with highest daily average turnover of the week in the running year".
"The market prolonged its gaining spell for eight consecutive weeks as the excited investors stayed active on sector-specific stocks," said International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, in its weekly market analysis.
The stockbroker noted that the market impressions kept on bullish and the sideline investors are coming back to stock market to seize the overall market motion.
However, the risk-averse investors booked some profit in the middle of the week, but last session of the week ended higher riding on the news of extending the relaxed facility for stockbrokers and merchant banks in keeping provisioning against unrealized losses they incurred till December 31, 2016 by another year, said the stockbroker.
Sheltech Brokerage, said, "The prime index, DSEX, extended its gaining streak for eight straight weeks hitting 2-year's peak".
The gainers took a strong lead over the losers as out of 328 issues traded, 188 closed higher, 113 closed lower and 27 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
The total market capitalisation of the DSE also inched up by 0.12 per cent last week as it was Tk 3,375.64 billion on the opening day of the week while it stood at Tk 3,379.73 billion on closing day of the week.
Bangladesh Building Systems dominated the week's turnover chart for the two consecutive sessions with 36.61 million shares of Tk 2.0 billion changing hands, followed by Appollo Ispat Tk 1.25 billion, Lafarge Surma Cement Tk 1.18 billion, Square Pharmaceuticals Tk 1.15 billion and Summit Alliance Port Tk 1.14 billion.
CMC Kamal was the week's best performer, posting a 23 per cent gain, while Mithun Knitting and Dyeing was the worst loser, slumping by 16.45 per cent.
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