Stocks finished higher for the two straight sessions with core index of the premier bourse exceeding 5,400-mark on Wednesday as investors continued their buying spree.
Brokers said the market maintained the positive trend amid increased participation from investors as they took fresh position on banking stocks after analysing the quarterly earnings.
The market started on positive note and saw some volatility in early trading. But late hours buying spree helped the core index to exceed 5,400-mark.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) went up by 24 points or 0.44 per cent to settle at 5,405. DSEX crosses the 5,400-mark after six weeks.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also advanced 3.45 points to finish at 1,905 points. However, the DSE Shariah Index fell 4.0 points to close at 1,252.
Turnover, an important indicator of the market, also increased slightly as the total turnover stood at Tk 7.24 billion, which was 2.0 per cent higher than the previous day's Tk 7.10 billion.
The textile sectors topped the turnover chart, grabbing 25 per cent of the day's total turnover, followed by engineering with 20 per cent and banking 11 per cent.
According to International Leasing Securities, the opportunist investors showed their buying interest on large-cap stocks, especially from banking and food sectors, which helped the benchmark index to close above 5,400-mark.
Among large-cap sectors, the banking sector posted the significant gain of 2.21 per cent with prices of 28 banks closed higher, out of 30.
Food & allied and engineering sectors also gained by 1.50 per cent and 0.28 per cent respectively.
Telecommunication witnessed the highest loss of 1.85 per cent, followed by power with 0.67 per cent, financial institutions 0.10 per cent and pharmaceuticals 0.02 per cent.
The optimistic investors showed their buying interest on the sector-specific stocks and some rebalanced their portfolio after analysing the quarterly earnings, said EBL Securities, in an analysis.
Of the 338 issues traded, 163 declined, 141 advanced and 34 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 153,890 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 191.38 million securities.
Recently listed Aman Cotton Fibrous dominated the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 353 million changing hands, followed by BBS Cables, Legacy Footwear, Paramount Textile and The Peninsula Chittagong.
National Life Insurance was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 9.95 per cent while Shympur Sugar Mills was the worst performer, losing 9.87 per cent.
The port city bourse CSE also ended higher with its CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -advancing 63 points to settle at 16,608 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX - gaining 39 points to finish at 10,053.
The losers beat gainers as 128 issues closed lower, 90 ended higher, with 26 issues remaining unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 8.74 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 262 million in turnover.
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