Stocks close higher on a late-hour buying spree

Stocks in the Dhaka and Chattogram bourses rebounded on Tuesday, thanks to a buying spree by bargain hunters during the end hours, after a consecutive fall for seven sessions.

The daily turnover at the bourses declined further on the day with DSE hitting a six-month low.

The broad-based index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) soared 68.44 points or 1.0% to close at 6,868 after losing 107 points in the previous two consecutive days.

DSEX had doubled in the 15 months till early October. Since then the DSE index began correction from 7,410 points and dipped below 6,800 points on Monday. 

Among other indices, the blue-chip index DS30 increased 1.25%, while the Shariah-compliant securities' index DSES gained 1.2%.

"Many investors went on a late hour buying spree on major sectoral stocks after consecutive corrections left many shares available at lucrative prices," brokerage firm EBL Securities wrote in their daily market commentary.

However, a large section of investors remained on the sideline amid the volatility dropping the daily turnover to a six month's low of Tk1,007 crore in the DSE— 6.27% lower than that on Monday.

Indices' effort to bounce back on Tuesday was mostly contributed by some selective large-cap stocks.

Pharmaceuticals, textile and miscellaneous sectors contributed most to the daily turnover in the DSE.

The cement sector's total market capitalisation increased by 5.4%, while travel-leisure and services sectors followed with 3.7% and 2.9% gains respectively.

 In the meantime, food and allied, general insurance and tannery sectors led the sectoral table of losers on Tuesday. 

 In total, 223 of the DSE scrips advanced against the decline of 99, while the price of 54 scrips remained unchanged.

In the port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange, broad index CSCX rose 1.16% to 12,075. Daily turnover at the bourse declined to Tk23.78 crore from the previous session's Tk34.76 crore.