Weekly market review: Stocks extend rally ahead of earnings disclosures

Stocks extended their winning streak for two consecutive weeks to Thursday as investors continued their chase after some specific shares in anticipation of quick gains surrounding the upcoming corporate declarations.

The price surge of sector-specific stocks, such as Square Pharma, Kohinoor Chemicals, Khan Brother PP Woven Bag Industries, Olympic Industries, and Alif Industries helped the market to stay afloat.

These five stocks contributed around a 13-point rise of the core index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange in the week, according to amarstock.com, a market data analyst.

Apart from these, the insurance stocks continued to attract investors as they found oversold stocks lucrative for investment following the rising interest rate.

"Higher interest generally helps increase the cash-surplus insurance industry's financial income," said a leading stockbroker.

Accordingly, the general insurance sector saw a 2.70 per cent gain, while dominating the weekly turnover list.

Of the five trading sessions, the first session saw a marginal fall while the last four ended higher with increasing participation of investors on earnings hope.

"The opportunistic investors preferred to take positions in sector-specific issues with quick gain potential ahead of earnings and dividend announcements," said EBL Securities, in its weekly analysis.

However, cautious investors were still observing the market movement amid profit-booking tendency in recently rallied stocks. They remained jittery because of macroeconomic concerns and political uncertainties ahead of the upcoming national election, said the stockbroker.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, finally settled the week at 19.66 points or 0.31 per cent higher to 6,289.01. The DSEX added more than 27 points in the past two weeks.

The DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, also advanced more than 5 points to 1,363. However, the DS30 Index, which consists of blue-chip companies, fell more than 1 point to close at 2,140.

The total turnover of the week stood at Tk 25 billion, up from Tk 20.15 billion in the week before.

The average daily turnover stood at Tk 5 billion in the outgoing week, which was 24 per cent higher than in the previous week.

The general insurance sector kept its dominance on the turnover list, capturing 20 per cent of the week's total turnover, followed by food (18 per cent) and pharma (10 per cent).

The small-cap jute sector posted the highest gain for the two weeks, soaring 11 per cent as the sector leader Sonali Aansh Industries alone experienced almost 15 per cent price appreciation, followed by general insurance, life Insurance and mutual fund sectors.

However, most of the traded stocks remained confined to the floor. Out of 379 issues traded, 228 remained unchanged, 97 witnessed price rise and 54 saw price fall on the DSE trading floor.

Sea Pearl Beach Resorts was the most-traded stock with shares worth Tk 1.20 billion changing hands, followed by Sonali Paper, Gemini Sea Food, Fu-Wang Food and Sonali Aansh Industries.

Libra Infusion was the week's top gainer, rising 27.53 per cent while Legacy Footwear the worst loser, shedding 6.79 per cent.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended higher, with the CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) gaining 40 points to settle at 18,585 and the Selective Categories Index (CSCX) rising 23 points to 11,110.

The port city's bourse traded 8.36 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover volume of Tk 659 million.

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