Stocks break two-week losing streak

Stocks rebounded this week, snapping a two-week losing streak, as investors retained appetite for banking issues amid optimism.
Market insiders said stocks broke the losing spell riding on the wave of investors' buying mood, who focused on banks, financial institutions and cement companies, pushing the core index above 6,200-mark.
"Buoyed by the news of soaring net foreign investment in the capital market, investors have exhibited bullish mentality amidst increased fund inflow in the market," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
The net foreign investments in stocks jumped 202 per cent year on year in the first nine months of 2017 as overseas investors bought shares worth Tk 51.01 billion and sold shares worth Tk 33.26 billion, resulting in their net investment amounting to Tk 17.75 billion for the January-September period.
This week witnessed four trading sessions as the market remained closed Sunday on the occasion of Holy Ashura. Thursday was the last trading session and all the four sessions finished higher.
Week on week, the DSEX, the prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), which replaced the DGEN four and a half years ago, settled 109 points or 1.80 per cent higher at 6,202.
Two other indices -- the DS30 index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) -- also followed the similar trend and closed at 2,201 and 1,350 points, gaining 23.82 points and 4.05 points respectively.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also bounced back, with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, advancing 257 points or 2.24 per cent to settle at 11,669 points.
The bullish sentiment among the investors was also reflected in the turnover, with the total transactions in this week reaching Tk 36.70 billion on the DSE, up from Tk 34.43 billion in the previous week -- a rise of 6.58 per cent.
The daily turnover averaged out at Tk 9.17 billion, which was 33 per cent higher than the previous week's average of Tk 6.88 billion.
Block trade contributed 1.60 per cent to the total weekly turnover, with stocks like Social Islami Bank, Brac Bank, Premier Bank, Square Pharmaceuticals and Islami Insurance dominating the block trade board.
The banking sector kept its dominance on the turnover chart, grabbing 52 per cent of the week's total transactions, followed by financial institutions (9.0 per cent) and engineering (6.0 per cent).
City Bank Capital Resources, a merchant bank, said, "Such recovery in market indices was triggered by considerable gain in banking sectors' stocks and also the large-cap stocks like GrameenPhone, ICB, Lafarge Surma Cement and United Power which helped keep the market in green."
The merchant bank also noted that the news of increasing net foreign investment in DSE created positive sentiment among the investors.
Net foreign investment in the first nine months of 2017 stood at Tk 17.75 billion, which was Tk 5.87 billion in the same period of 2016.
International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, said, "Enthusiastic participation of the investors backed by optimism brought buoyancy to the market, which helped the benchmark index to cross 6,200-point mark".
The total market capitalisation of the DSE also rose to Tk 4,127 billion, registering an increase of 1.34 per cent over the previous week's Tk 4,072 billion.
The gainers took a modest lead over the losers, as out of 335 issues traded, 173 closed higher, 137 lower and 25 remained flat on the DSE trading floor.
Exim Bank topped the week's turnover chart with 92.56 million shares of Tk 1.72 billion changing hands, closely followed by Aarma Networks (Tk 1.46 billion), Islami Bank (Tk 1.31 billion), Premier Bank (Tk 1.28 million) and LankaBangla Finance (Tk 1.05 billion).
Sonar Bangla Insurance was the week's highest gainer, posting a 21.20 per cent gain, while Northern Jute Manufacturing was the biggest loser, shedding 30.50 per cent.
Aamra Networks, which made its share trading debut this week, gained 255 per cent from its offer price of Tk 39 in the first trading day.

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