With the prime index of the country's premiere bourse crossing the 6,200-mark once again, stocks extended the winning streak for the fifth straight session on Thursday, as investors' appetite for banking issues remained high.
Dealers said the market finished higher as investors continued their buying spree of large-cap issues, especially banks, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals, pushing the core index above 6,200-mark for the second time in two weeks.
The market started on a positive note and the upward trend sustained until the end of the session with no sign of reversal. Finally, the key index of the major bourse settled more than 42 points higher.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), which replaced DGEN four and a half years ago, maintained its soaring momentum, gaining 42.35 points to close at 6,202 points.
The DSEX added more than 123 points in the past five consecutive sessions.
Two other indices -- the DS30 index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) - also followed suit to close at 2,201 and 1,350 points, gaining 10.97 points and 5.77 points respectively.
The turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, crossed Tk 10 billion-mark once again. The total turnover reached Tk 10.58 billion on Thursday, climbing 20 per cent over the previous day's value of Tk 8.84 billion.
The banking sector kept its dominance on the turnover chart, grabbing nearly 53 per cent of the day's total transactions, as seven banks made their way to the top 10 turnover list, followed by financial institutions (9.0 per cent) and engineering (6.0 per cent).
The International Leasing Securities said, "The market started the session positively and ended in the same direction which helped the benchmark index to cross 6,200-point mark after two weeks."
The stockbroker noted that enthusiastic investors sustained their buying interest in the banking sector since the beginning of the session.
Sheltech Brokerage said, "Index continued its upward movement led by banking, telecommunication, pharmaceuticals and insurance sectors."
"Index moved in the positive direction throughout the day with mild flat movement in the middle of the session. At the end of the day, index closed green at 6,202 points," commented LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, in an analysis.
A total number of 0.145 million trades were executed in the day's trading session, with trading volume reaching 348.52 million securities.
The total market capitalisation of the DSE stood at Tk 4,127 billion, up from Tk 4,105 billion in the previous session.
Among the large-cap sectors, banks posted the highest gain of 2.10 per cent, followed by telecommunications (0.60 per cent), pharmaceuticals (0.50 per cent) and financial institutions (0.20 per cent).
On the other hand, cement witnessed the highest correction of 0.90 per cent, followed by engineering (0.20 per cent) and food & allied (0.10 per cent).
However, losers took a marginal lead over the gainers. Out of 332 issues traded, 149 closed lower, 144 higher and 39 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Uttara Bank topped the day's turnover chart with 12.22 million shares of Tk 480 million changing hands, closely followed by Exim Bank, UCB, LankaBangla Finance and Islami Bank.
Trust Bank was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 8.18 per cent while Modern Dyeing was the day's biggest loser, shedding 5.43 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also closed higher with its Selective Categories Index -- CSCX -- settling 80.68 points higher at 11,669.
Losers beat gainers as 120 issues closed lower, 113 closed higher and 23 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 19.61 million shares and mutual fund units, generating a turnover of Tk 615 million.
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