Stocks upbeat

Stocks maintained the upbeat momentum for the nine consecutive sessions on Wednesday as investors continued their buying spree amid growing confidence.

Market insiders said spontaneous participation backed by hopes and enthusiasm coupled with persistent upbeat market trend continued to lure investors to take position on sector specific stocks.

Maintaining the previous day`s upward movement, the market started with an optimistic note, but faced some quick-profit booking sell pressure in middle of the session. However, rest of the session went up steadily, ultimately ended 18.87 points higher.

DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went up by 18.87 points or 0.37 per cent to settle at 5,156.60, which was the highest level of DSEX since October 30, 2014, when DSEX was 5,173.23. DSEX added about 232 points in the past nine consecutive sessions.

IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, said, "Profit booking in the early part of the session pushed down the index, but the market started recovering from the mid-day and managed to close positive with activities in the market remained vibrant".

The two other indices also edged higher. The DS30, comprising blue chips, advanced 3.28 points or 0.17 per cent to close at 1,855.93.  The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) rose 5.23 points or 0.43 per cent to close at 1,218.47.

Turnover, the most important indicator of the market, remained encouraging and the total turnover stood at Tk 12.09 billion, which was 13 per cent lower than the previous day`s Tk 13.91 billion.

Engineering sector continued to lead the turnover chart, capturing 22 per cent of the day`s total turnover, followed by textile 16 per cent and pharmaceuticals 13 per cent.

International Leasing Securities, a stockbroker, said, "Some investors went for booking quick profit in the mid-session on stocks that saw substantial gain in the past few days, while some reshuffled their portfolio ahead of year-end corporate declarations".

However, the downbeat trend reversed in the second half of the session as optimistic sentiment and positive expectation among the opportunity hunter investors helped to revive the buoyancy at the end of the session, said the stockbroker.

The stockbroker noted that buoyancy in several issues mostly from telecom, pharmaceuticals and textile sectors contributed to the upswing in indices.

The large-cap sectors showed mixed performance. Textile sector surged 1.80 per cent, riding on gain in Argon Denims which gained 9.97 per cent.

The engineering sector posted the highest gain of 1.0 per cent, followed by telecommunication 0.96 per cent, pharmaceuticals 0.82 per cent and banks 0.19 per cent.

The non-bank financial institutions witnessed a 0.75 per cent loss, followed by fuel and power 0.66 per cent and food and allied 0.13 per cent.

The losers, however, took a slight lead over the gainers as out of 327 issues traded, 146 closed lower, 145 closed higher and 36 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

Argon Denims dominated the DSE turnover chart with about 12.86 million shares worth nearly Tk 447 million changing hands, followed by Beximco, Bangladesh Building Systems, GPH Ispat and DESCO.

Argon Denims was also the day`s highest gainer, posting a 9.97 per cent rise, while Meghna Pet was the worst loser, slumping 10 per cent.

The port city bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also closed marginally higher with its Selective Category Index (CSCX) - advancing 13.65 points to settle at 9,585.86.

Losers beat gainers as 127 issues closed lower, 110 closed higher and 22 remained unchanged on the CSE.

The port city bourse traded 26.33 million shares and mutual fund units` worth over Tk 731 million in turnover.