Dhaka stocks witnessed yet another bullish session Wednesday, extending the gaining streak for the sixth straight session, as optimistic investors continued their buying appetite on large-cap stocks.
Dealers said the market maintained the upward trend as investors continued their buying spree on sector-wise stocks, especially banking, engineering and fuel & power sectors, taking the core index above 6,300-mark once again.
Among the large-cap sectors, banking, engineering food & allied and pharmaceuticals registered positive movement of 0.79 per cent, 0.42 per cent, 0.87 per cent and 0.58 per cent gain respectively.
The market started amid optimism in the morning and the key index crossed the 6,300-mark within first 30 minutes of trading which continued till end of the session with no sign of reversal. Finally it ended 38 points higher.
DSEX, the core index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), which replaced the DGEN in five years back, settled at 6,318 points, after gaining 38.30 points or 0.60 per cent. DSEX added nearly 159 points in the last six consecutive trading sessions.
According to EBL Securities, a stockbroker, said, "The market retained momentum throughout the session as investors kept on taking fresh position on selective stocks".
Stocks from telecommunication, bank and fuel & power sector spurred the investors buying momentum.
The two other indices-the DS30 index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) - followed the same trend. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips advanced 10.44 points or 0.45 per cent to finish at a historical high at 2,302.
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) also rose 9.57 points or 0.68 per cent to close at 1,412, the highest level since its inception on January 20, 2014.
The total market capitalisation of the DSE also rose to an all-time high at Tk 4,285 billion, surpassing the previous day's record high of Tk 4,255 billion.
The market activities, however, fell with the total turnover and total turnover amounting to Tk 5.76 billion, which was 4.95 per cent lower than the previous day's Tk 6.06 billion.
The gainers took a strong lead over the losers as out of 336 issues traded, 195 closed higher, 101 lower and 40 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
International Leasing Securities, said, "The market started the day's session on positive note and ended in the same direction which led the benchmark index to cross 6,300 points mark after November 30, 2017".
The stockbroker noted that the opportunist investors showed their buying interest on large-cap stocks, especially from telecom, fuel & power, food and bank sectors. On the other hand, the shaky investors opted for liquidating their position from travel, cement and miscellaneous sectors.
United Power topped the day's turnover chart for the third day in a row with 2.70 million shares worth Tk 517 million changing hands, followed by Dragon Sweater, Grameenphone, IFAD Autos and Islami Bank.
Gemini Sea Food was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 5.03 per cent while Kay & Que was the day's worst loser, plunging by 5.01 per cent.
Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also closed higher with its CSE All Share Price Index - CAPSI- gaining 120 points to close at 19542.
The Selective Categories Index - CSCX - also gained 75 points to close at 11,815 points.
Gainers beat losers as 143 issues closed higher, 68 lower and 19 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 11.07 million shares and mutual fund units worth more than Tk 303 million in turnover.
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