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Stocks extended their rally for the eighth straight week, with the benchmark equity index surpassing 5,400 mark for the first time in 10 months, as buoyant investors continued to put fresh bets on blue chip shares.
The improving macroeconomic factors, supported by healthy foreign exchange reserves, rising exports, and record remittance inflows have sustained investor sentiment, market analysts said.
The recent momentum around quality stocks, including strong banks, and multinational companies, feels like a long-overdue demand toward fundamental stocks, said a leading stockbroker.
The foreign fund managers also become active in the market, taking early positions in strong stocks, backed by regulatory enforcement to establish good governance and improving foreign exchange market, he added.
Moreover, optimism over favourable outcomes from the ongoing US tariff negotiation also encouraged investors to put fresh bets on undervalued stocks.
Finally, the US revised down reciprocal tariff to 20 per cent on imports from Bangladesh, which brings Bangladesh in line with other apparel-exporting peer economies facing similar trade treatment.
This development offers partial relief to Bangladesh's export sector -- particularly RMG products, said the stockbroker.
This week saw first three sessions close lower as investors preferred profit-taking, However, the bullish enthusiasm sparked again across the trading floor, with the last two sessions ending higher.
DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), finally settled the week more than 51 points or 0.95 per cent higher at 5,443, the highest level in 10 months since October 3, 2024.
DSEX regained around 805 in the past eight straight weeks while the market capitalization surged by Tk 617 billion during the time to Tk 7.12 trillion.
In its weekly analysis, EBL Securities said the bullish momentum sustained as investor' heightened optimism, driven by the ongoing quarterly earnings declaration season and portfolio rebalancing strategies, fuelled robust buying interest in the banking sector and selective blue-chip stocks.
This week, price hikes of fundamentally strong stocks such as Square Pharma, Pubali Bank, Beximco Pharma, City Bank and BRAC, pulled the market index up, jointly contributing almost 48-point rise in the DSEX.
The blue-chip DS30 index, a group of 30 prominent companies, jumped 25 points to 2,114. However, the DSES Index, which represents Shariah-based companies, shed 2 points to 1,171.
The final session of the week also saw this year's highest single-day turnover, crossing 10 billion-mark after 11 months. As investor participation surged, the total turnover reached Tk 41.94 billion this week, slightly down from Tk 42.97 billion the previous week.
Accordingly, the average daily turnover stood at Tk 8.39 billion, 2.4 per cent down from the previous week's figure of Tk 8.6 billion.
The banking sector kept its dominance in the weekly turnover chart; accounting for 29.7 per cent of the week's total turnover, followed by the pharma sector (10.3 per cent) and textile sector (8.5 per cent).
The market upbeat vibe continued to lure the investors to selective major sectors, particularly in the banking, cement and pharmaceuticals sectors while telecom, food and power saw marginal correction.
Most of the traded issues, however, saw price erosion, as out of 393 issued traded, 222 closed lower, 140 ended higher and 31 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
City Bank was the most-traded stock with shares worth Tk 2.21 billion changing hands, followed by BRAC Bank, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, BAT Bangladesh and Jamuna Bank.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended higher, with its All Share Price Index (CASPI) soaring 189 points to 15,202, while the Selective Categories Index (CSCX) rose 131 points to close at 9,325 points.
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