Stocks rally for eighth session as banks shine

Dhaka stocks rose for an eighth straight session on Monday, led by banks due to better-than-expected dividends offered by the financial stocks amid the pandemic.

The benchmark DSEX index gained 26 points or 0.46% to settle at 5,840.

Other indices, the Shariah-based DSES index rose over 2 points or 0.18% to 1,285 and the blue-chip DS30 index was up 6 points or 0.30% to 2,199.

Amid the pandemic that hit almost every sector hardest, the banking sector announced relatively better dividends, which attracted the investors, said a stockbroker.

However, the sector remained under pressure for a long time due to rising non-performing loans, he added.

The banking sector—the market’s bellwether—booked the highest gain of 2.37%, driven by NRBC Bank that hit almost the upper limit circuit breaker at 9.76%.

The bank is the second-largest gainer of the day after Asia Insurance that helped the life insurance sector surge more than 2%.

All other large-cap sectors posted positive performance except NBFI (-0.73%), and fuel and power (-0.79%).

Engineering was the third best performing sector (+1.92%), followed by food and allied (+1.83%), telecommunication (+1.11%), and pharmaceutical (+0.01%).

The volume of trade surpassed 1,500 crore-mark to stand at Tk 1,534 crore, which is the highest since January 25, 2021 when it was Tk 1,585 crore. Block trades contributed 2.7% of the overall market turnover.

Bangladesh Export Import Company Ltd was the most traded share with a turnover of Tk 1,13 crore, followed by Robi, SAIF Powertec, Prime Bank, IFIC, BATBC, National Feed Mills, City Bank, and Lanka Bangla Finance.