Stocks bounced back in the gaining streak on Monday, after a single-day break, thanks to increased participation of investors in the heavyweight banking sector.
Market analysts said the investors showed their buying interest in the stocks of the banking sector ahead of their year-end and the banking sector generated the highest return and turnover on the day.
The market saw a big jump in its benchmark index after the three hours trading, rising 62 points, but could not hold that upbeat vibe till the end of the session amid final hours sell-offs.
Finally, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 11.29 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 6,941, after losing over 65 points in the previous day.
Two other indices also edged higher with the DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, gaining 3.55 points to finish at 2,659 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) advancing 0.07 point to close at 1,465.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, also rose to Tk 14.21, which was 28 per cent higher than the previous day's tally of Tk 11.11 billion.
The bargain hunters showed their buying appetite on banking, non-bank financial institutions and food sector stocks, taking the market index in higher territory, according to a stockbroker.
The banking sector generated the highest return, gaining 2.20 per cent with 28 banks out of 32 listed banks closed in the green. Two banks ended in the red while two remained unchanged.
The investors' activity was also mostly centered on the banking sector, capturing 21.5 per cent of the day's total turnover led by BRAC Bank.
The financial institutions and, food and pharma sectors also gained 2.20 per cent, 1.30 per cent and 0.40 per cent respectively.
Top positive index contributors were BRAC Bank, British American Tobacco, Square Pharma, ICB and Dutch-Bangla Bank, jointly contributing 30 points rise of DSEX, according to amarstock.com.
"The investors' enthusiasm in the banking, financial institutions, food and pharmaceuticals sectors helped the index to stay in green," according to International Leasing Securities.
The stockbroker noted that some of the investors were restructuring their portfolio based on the recent quarter's earning disclosure.
Cement, engineering, telecom and power sectors suffered losses of 1.50 per cent, 0.50 per cent, 0.40 per cent and 0.30 per cent respectively.
Losers, however, took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 373 issues traded, 227 declined, 115 advanced and 31 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Despite healthy earnings in July-September 2021, share prices of large-cap Beximco and Beximco Pharma continued to decline. Beximco and Beximco pharma lost 1.83 per cent and 1.91 per cent respectively on Monday.
Beximco's EPS jumped by 2835 per cent year-on-year to Tk 4.11 for the July-September, 2021 while Beximco Pharma posted over 36 per cent profit growth during the period.
Beximco was the most traded stock with shares worth Tk 1.94 billion changing hands, followed by BRAC Bank (Tk 871 million), IFIC Bank (Tk 824 million), Orion Pharma (Tk 529 million) and Genex Infosys (Tk 460 million).
The newly listed Acme Pesticides, which made its shares trading debut on Sunday, was the day's top gainer, rising 10 per cent while National Feed Mills was the worst lower, losing 9.91 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also edged higher with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -rising 29 points to settle at 20,323 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX-- gaining 19 points to close at 12,215.
Of the issues traded, 164 declined, 104 advanced and 14 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port-city bourse traded 13.04 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 457 million.
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