Stocks maintained the upward trend for the sixth straight day on Wednesday as investors showed their buying binge on financial issues.
Brokers said the market kept gaining following the news that the securities regulator relaxed the margin rules for another two years till December 31, 2020, which prompted investors to take position.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,349, advancing 49.08 points or 0.92 per cent over the previous day.
DSEX added more than 130 points in the past six consecutive trading sessions.
The investors were active from the beginning of the session and the upward trend continued till end of the session with no sign of reversal.
The market ended higher as some investors anticipated that the market would be better after the national election scheduled for December 30, said a leading broker.
The securities regulator's positive move, year-end effect coupled with post-election expectations kept index upturn, he said.
Trading activities, however, remained below Tk 4.0 billion as some investors adopted 'wait-and-see' stance amid growing political tension surrounding national elections, he added.
"The prime index soared 49 points mainly led by rising bank, financial institutions and pharmaceutical issues," commented IDLC Securities, in an analysis.
The banking sector posted the highest gain, gaining 2.10 per cent, followed by financial institutions with 1.16 per cent, pharmaceuticals 0.70 per cent, food 0.33 per cent and telecommunication 0.16 per cent.
Today [Thursday] is last trading session in the outgoing calendar year 2018.
The bourses will remain closed for the last four days of the outgoing calendar year due to national elections (December 30), Bank holiday (December 31) and weekly holidays (December 28, 29).
The two other indices edged higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 12.93 points to finish at 1,867 and the DSES (Shariah) index gained 8.29 points to settle at 1,226.
According to International Leasing Securities, the enthusiastic investors were active on the bank and financial institution sector stocks on the lucrative price levels.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also rose to Tk 3.88 billion, which was 8.68 per cent higher than the previous day's Tk 3.57 billion.
A total number of 102,387 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 112.87 million shares and mutual fund units.
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