Stocks rally after five days

The market witnessed sharp rise Tuesday after a slow trend in the last five trading sessions as investors went for buying spree on large-cap stocks, defying the ongoing political turmoil in the country.
The market opened with a positive note and the momentum continued till the market closure as optimistic investors came forward amid the hope that the ongoing political crisis may end soon.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) went up by 74.12 points or 1.57 per cent to close at 4,786.69 points. It is the 6-week steepest single-day gain since January 1, when DSEX rose 76.55 points or 1.57 per cent.
The two other indices also saw steep gain. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips gained 38.53 points or 2.20 per cent to close at 1,788.21 points. The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) soared 20.24 points or 1.80 per cent to close at 1,140.71 points.
Turnover on DSE improved further and amounted to Tk 2.99 billion, registering an increase of 11.72 per cent over the over the previous session's value of Tk 2.68 billion. It was 18-session high turnover since Tk 3.31 billion on January 15.
The investors' activity mostly focused on power, engineering and pharma - the sectors that accounted for 17 per cent, 16.9 per cent and 14.5 per cent respectively of the day's total turnover.
"Despite no virtual improvement in political scenario, market experienced a sharp takeoff, as investors were concerned whether they were missing any lucrative opportunity," said IDLC Investments in an analysis.
The idea got interpreted into abrupt curiosity to issues that got steeply corrected in recent downturn. However, the sudden hike was not matched in terms of activities, said the merchant bank.
"The market participants appear to be regaining confidence about the market in tune with positive walk in indices for the past five consecutive sessions," International Leasing Securities.
"The optimistic investors swooped on stocks taking advantage of lower share prices despite political turmoil," said an analyst. However, he said it is early to comment whether this rise is sustainable or not.
LankaBangla Securities said: "Stocks spotted six winning streaks in a row with gradual increase in market participation".
Market might have reacted positively to the news of falling non-performing loan (NPL) in banking sector, said the stock broker.
Banks' default loans dropped 12.45 per cent in the last quarter of 2014 after rising in the three previous quarters, much to the relief of the central bank.
All the major sectors closed in green. Cement and power posted high returns gaining 2.63 per cent and 2.15 per cent respectively. Telecommunication also posted decent gain of 1.84 per cent.
In the financial sectors - banks and NBFIs advanced by 0.55 per cent and 0.88 per cent respectively. Pharmaceuticals reckoned positive return of 0.86 per cent and food and allied went up by 0.35 per cent.
The gainers took a modest lead over the losers out of 307 issues traded, 244 advanced, 37 declined and 26 remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
Activities increased in the major bourse where volume and trade were up by 15.96 per cent and 17.47 per cent respectively. A total number of 0.088 million trades were executed with trading volume of 72.95 million securities.
The market capitalisation on DSE stood at Tk 3,227.34 billion against Tk 3,188.43 billion in the previous session.
MJL BD was the most traded stock with shares worth Tk 142.62 million changing hands followed by IFAD Autos, Lafarge Surma Cement, Square Pharma and GP.
Beximco Limited was the day's top gainer, posting a rise of 10.06 per cent while Phoenix First Mutual Fund was the day's worst loser, plunging 7.54 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also saw steep rise with its Selective Categories Index - CSCX - gained 140.29 points to close at 8,884.27 points.
Gainers beat losers 188 to 34, with 17 issues remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 8.50 million shares and mutual fund units, turnover value of Tk 261.00 million.
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