Stocks continued to gain amid volatility for the seven consecutive sessions on Sunday with benchmark DSEX index climbing to nearly four-month high, persistently shrugging off ongoing political turmoil.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange extended trading hour till 3pm instead of usual 2:30pm as it began trading half-hour late from the scheduled time due to technical glitches.
After swinging between positive and negative initially, the benchmark index finished 44 points or 1% higher to close at 4,244 – highest since July 17 this year.
However, the blue chip index DS30 fell 17 points or 1.2% to 1,436. The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Categories Index, CSCX, rose 76 points to 8,264.
The key event that would have a significant impact on stock market was hard nature in rally of sector specific stocks where buyers were leading over sellers, said Lanka Bangla Securities in its market analysis.
Till now, the fresh strike in the political arena could not distract investors’ mind on account of positive cue from fundamental side of market, it said.
The rally in the heavyweight banking sector gave a further boost to the benchmark index as the banks outshined the rest with an impressive 4.7% gain.
Six banks gained more than 9.0% and consequently featured in the top ten gainers chart. The sector also accounted for 37% of the DSE total turnover that stood at almost Tk5bn, which was more than 5% higher than the previous session.
Telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, engineering and power sectors saw price correction on profit booking.
However, the market breadth remained negative as out of total 284 issues traded, 131 closed green, 140 red and 14 remained unchanged.
United Commercial Bank was the most traded stock of the session with turnover worth over Tk242m changing hands, followed by Meghna Petroleum, Mercantile Bank and One Bank.