Stocks keep gaining for fifth straight week

Stocks maintained the gaining streak for the fifth straight week, as investors showed their appetite for sector-wise stocks last week.

Market operators said the stocks kept their gaining streak as a section of investors took position on shares with the year-end in June amid dividend expectations.

"The rally was largely supported by heavyweight power, telecommunication, engineering and textile sectors' issues," said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.

The week featured five trading sessions as usual. Of them, two sessions closed higher while the three others saw modest correction.

Week-on-week, the DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 29.44 points or 0.53 per cent to settle at 5,600.

"The positive movement in the index is mainly driven by upward movement in the power, telecommunication and engineering sectors," commented LankaBangla Securities.

Two other indices also closed higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 12.55 points to close at 1,960 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 12 points to end at 1,269.

Turnover, another indicator of the market, also jumped to Tk 29.19 billion from Tk 10.05 billion in the week before, as the last week saw five trading sessions instead of the previous week's two due to Eid holidays.

The daily turnover averaged Tk 5.83 billion, 16 per cent higher than the previous week's average of Tk 5.03 billion.

The textile sector dominated the week's turnover chart, grabbing 15 per cent of the total turnover. It was closely followed by the engineering sector with 14 per cent and financial institutions 13.80 per cent.

Block trade contributed 1.20 per cent to the total weekly turnover with stocks like Rahim Textile, National Housing Finance, and ACME Laboratories dominating the block trade board.

The market capitalisation of the DSE advanced 1.04 per cent.

It was Tk 3,921 billion on the opening day of the week. It rose to Tk 3,962 billion on Thursday, the last trading day of the week.

According to the International Leasing Securities, the market kept gaining in the first week after the Eid holidays as the optimistic investors showed their buying appetite for large-cap stocks.

The stockbroker noted that investors increased concentration on the power, telecom, textile and engineering stocks, which helped the prime index reach the 5,600-point mark after May 10, 2018.

Some investors opted to book profits from banks, mutual funds and financial institutions which posted substantial gains over the last few weeks, said the stockbroker.

The gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 338 traded issues, 181 closed higher, 138 closed lower and 19 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor.

United Power topped the week's turnover chart with 3.53 million shares worth Tk 1.22 billion changing hands.

The next other turnover leaders were Active Fine Chemicals with Tk 942 million, National Housing Finance Tk 782 million, BBS Cables Tk 763 million and LankaBangla Finance Tk 759 million.

National Housing Finance was the week's best performer, posting a gain of 26.60 per cent.

Grameen Mutual Fund Two was the worst loser, as it slipped 9.64 per cent following its price adjustment after the record date.

The port city's bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also closed higher with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -advancing 133 points to settle at 17,244.

The Selective Categories Index - CSCX - also gained 81 points to close at 10,443.

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