Stocks ride high for eighth day

Stocks gained for the eighth day yesterday, riding on financial and power company shares.
DSEX, the benchmark general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, closed the day at 4,565.40 points, after gaining 46 points or 1.02 percent.
“Investors invested heavily in financial stocks with the expectation of a flexible monetary stance from the central bank, in order to stimulate the wounded economy,” commented IDLC Investments in its regular market analysis.
The power sector gained 3.24 percent.
On the other hand, in spite of a series of government stimulus packages, investors remained sceptical about the textile sector's ability to report healthy profits, the investment banker said.
At this point, the market is still bullish with a sequence of high winning streaks for the last eight trading sessions.
“As some of the country's economic indicators have been pointing at marginal improvements, it seems investors are focused more on corporate earnings,” stated LankaBangla Securities in its daily market analysis.
Rising from strenuous political confrontation, economic activities are presumed to revive on the backdrop of liquidity in the financial system, the stockbroker said.
Turnover, the most important indicator of the market, advanced 10.03 percent to Tk 708 crore, compared to the previous day, which is the highest since December 11, 2013.
A total of 1.50 lakh trades were executed with 15.59 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands on the Dhaka bourse.
All the major sectors performed well: banks gained 1.61 percent, non-bank financial institutions 1.02 percent, telecoms 0.57 percent and pharma 0.25 percent.
However, a slight correction was observed in some small cap sectors, including engineering 0.55 percent, information technology 1.49 percent and textiles 1.21 percent.  
Meghna Petroleum saw the highest liquidity with 13.4 lakh shares worth Tk 34 crore changing hands.
Progressive Life Insurance Company was the highest gainer of the day, as it posted a 9.91 percent gain, while Rupali Life Insurance was the worst loser, slumping 32.73 percent.