Stocks ended sharply higher in the outgoing week, with the benchmark equity index going past the 'psychological' threshold of 5,300 points after a month, largely driven by large-cap stocks.
Market experts said the multinational and blue-chip stocks witnessed buying momentum after a long time as they had plunged to a historic low after the removal of floor price in January this year.
The investors were upbeat following the news that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved loans and the budgetary provision for money-whitening facility remains in place.
Buyers were in the dominant position throughout the week, while the approval of the third tranche of IMF loan and the opportunity to avail tax rebates from secondary market investments worked as major catalysts, said EBL Securities.
Substantial price hikes of large-cap stocks helped the market stay afloat as they have a significant impact on index, said a stockbroker.
This week saw five trading sessions as usual and four of the sessions ended higher.
DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), surged 111 points or 2.12 per cent to settle the week at 5,355. The DSEX recovered 257 points in the past two straight weeks.
Substantial price hikes of certain blue-chip stocks such as Renata, Square Pharma, Beximco Pharma, Grameenphone, and LafargeHolcim largely supported the market rally.
Renata's stock climbed 14 per cent, adding almost 20 points to the index following the news that it started shipments of new types of drug to the UK market.
Renata is also going to sign an agreement with International Finance Corporation (IFC) for a loan of $60 million so it can overcome the dollar crunch in imports of raw materials.
Square Pharma, the leading drug maker, jumped almost 3 per cent, contributing 13-point to the index.
Beximco Pharma also rose almost 10 per cent, adding more than 10 points to the index.
Grameenphone, the largest company in terms of the market capitalisation, soared 7.33 per cent, accounting for 8.5-point rise in the index.
The multinational and blue-chip stocks had become cheap after sharp corrections in recent times, increasing investors' appetite for those, Minhaz Mannan Emon, managing director at BLI Securities, told the FE on Tuesday.
"Multinational companies and blue-chip stocks are gradually getting buyers, which indicates that institutional investors are active in the market," said Mr Emon.
The DS30 index, a group of 30 prominent companies, also surged more than 48 points to 1,923, while the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, jumped 38 points to 1,184.
The large-cap sectors posted positive performance. Engineering booked the highest gain of 13 per cent, followed by cement and telecom with 8 per cent each and life insurance soared 6 per cent.
The total turnover, which indicates the volume of shares traded during the week, stood at Tk 28 billion with average daily turnover reaching Tk 5.60 billion.
Pharmaceuticals, food and textile sectors accounted for more than 44 per cent of the week's total turnover.
A majority of the stocks saw price surge, as out of the 396 issues traded, 300 closed higher, 64 ended lower and 32 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Unilever Consumer Care became the most-traded stocks with shares worth Tk 1.34 billion changing hands, closely followed by Sea Pearl Beach Resorts, Pragati Life Insurance, Linde Bangladesh and Beach Hatchery.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended sharply higher with its All Share Price Index (CASPI) soaring 302 points to 15,088 and the Selective Categories Index (CSCX) rising 187 points to 9,086.
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