Dhaka stocks rally for fifth straight day

Dhaka stocks rallied for the fifth consecutive session as investor participation marginally increased following the national election held on 7 January.

During the five trading sessions, the DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), rose by around 64 points and settled at 6,332 on Tuesday.

The country's premier bourse has had seven sessions since the election, with its key index maintaining an upward trend in six of them.

Fuelled by the stock rally, turnover at the DSE surged by 18.8% compared to the previous day, reaching over Tk800 crore – the highest since 21 September of the previous year.

The DSE Shariah index increased by 5.65 points to 1,382, and the DS30, the blue-chip index, increased by 6.44 points to 2,129.

Out of the traded stocks, 97 advanced, 79 declined, and 173 remained unchanged.

In its daily market commentary, EBL Securities said the benchmark index of the capital bourse extended its gaining streak, with increased market participation, as buy dominance continued across the trading floor since investors are being optimistic regarding a gradual improvement of the prevailing challenges impeding the market's momentum.

"The market remained upbeat throughout the session as opportunistic investors preferred to take positions in sector-specific scrips, which they deemed lucrative at the prevailing market prices, the commentary reads.

According to Royal Capital, 214 stocks were traded at the floor price on Tuesday, of which seven entered the floor price and five exited the floor price. Eleven sectors out of 19 were the gainers, and seven sectors were on the losing side.

Orion Infusion topped the turnover chart with a turnover of Tk44.99 crore, followed by Sea Pearl and Beach Resorts Spa and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation.

Shyampur Sugar was the topper in the gainer list with a gain of 9.96% to Tk206.4 each, followed by Samorita Hospital by 9.94% to Tk94 each, and Information Services Limited by 9.83% to Tk60.3 each.

Premier Leasing was the top loser, with a decline of 5.55% to Tk6.8 each, followed by Khulna Printing and Packaging by 5.02% to Tk24.60 each, and FAS Finance by 4.91% to Tk5.8 each.

On the sectoral front, pharma stocks exerted the highest turnover by 15.2%, followed by general insurance by 12.0% and engineering stocks by 9.1%.

The port city bourse, CSE, also settled on green terrain.

The selected indices (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) advanced by 24 and 39 points, respectively.