DSEX closes near 6,600-mark with buoyant participation

The Dhaka and Chattogram stock exchanges ended another week in green terrain as investors were positive about the direction of the economy and the market with their massive participation in trading.

DSEX, the broad-based benchmark of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), closed at 6,596 on Thursday, which was a fresh high for the very broad index launched in 2013.

Alongside the economic news including 6.2% GDP growth forecast by the HSBC, production resumption in the export-oriented industries and the continuation of a very liquid money market, analysts attributed the momentum in the stock market to more institutional participation in daily trading.

At the end of its sixth week of consistent rally, the DSE registered a daily turnover of over Tk2,000 crore for three days in a row.

The bull run in the market has largely been fuelled by the participation of institutional investors while most of the participants are confident that the benchmark index will grow further based on the increased liquidity in the market, said EBL Securities in its daily market commentary on Thursday.

The DSEX gained 2.66% over the week, while the blue-chip index DS30 gained 2.5% to close at 2,386.

Over the week, all sectors but insurance and telecom advanced in terms of market capitalisation.

Also on Thursday, most of the sectors observed positive performance, out of which travel and leisure with 3.2% gain in market capitalisation led the sectoral gainers' table, followed by the ceramic and IT sectors.

On the other hand, non-bank financial institutions, banks, services, and real estate sectors faced slight price corrections in the last session of the week.

Out of the 374 issues traded, 242 advanced, 103 declined, and 29 remained unchanged on Thursday, while on the weekly charts only 83 were found to have declined against gains of 281 scrips.

The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange also closed higher in line with its capital-city counterpart.