The Dhaka bourse on Wednesday bounced back after a single-day break, supported by increased participation by optimistic investors.
After five consecutive sessions, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) featured a turnover of more than Tk 5 billion, as many investors demonstrated increased buying appetite on sector specific stocks.
The conspicuous sign of improvement was price appreciation of 12 blue-chip stocks, including Square Pharmaceuticals, Heidelberg Cement, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, and Eastern Bank.
Following the stocks' price increases, the DS30 index also closed marginally higher.
Market operators said optimistic investors outnumbered the pessimistic ones, with expectations that the market would soon regain momentum on the premises of an ease of external economic pressure.
The market opened the day's session with a positive note and the DSE broad index DSEX continued its upward trend until the end of the session amid less volatility.
At the end of the session, the DSEX settled at 6285 points with a gain of 17 points.
After the national election, the broad index closed the first session on Monday with a gain of 25 points. The next session ended flat.
At the end of the Wednesday's session, 141 issues closed green, 27 declined and 177 remained unchanged on the DSE.
The sectors which were on the top of price appreciation included travel & leisure, IT, services & real estate, and mutual funds.
A market review of EBL Securities said the market remained upbeat throughout the session as opportunistic investors preferred to take positions in sector-specific scrips.
It also said the overall investment appetite still remained subdued since cautious investors were wary of the market's strength amid wavering confidence across the trading floor.
Investors' participation was mostly concentrated on the engineering sector that contributed 12.5 per cent to the market turnover.
The other sectors which saw good participation included the pharmaceuticals & chemicals and the general insurance.
The small-cap companies, including junk stocks, were on top gainers.
FAS Finance & Investment and Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries, which incurred losses for the last four years, were on the chart of top 10 gainers.
Emerald Oil Industries was the day's number one gainer with a rise of 10 per cent, while Standard Ceramic Industries was the worst loser after declining 2.41 per cent.
BD Thai experienced the highest participation from investors and topped the list of the most-traded stocks, with a trade volume of Tk 231 million, followed by Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa and Orion Infusion.
Of 164 issues traded on the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), 69 advanced, 26 declined and 69 were unchanged.
At the end of the Wednesday's session, the benchmark index CASPI advanced 46 points and the CSE posted a turnover of Tk 66 million.
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