The stock market witnessed yet another bullish week with market-cap of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) climbing to a historical high, thanks to increased investor participation.
The market capitalisation of the prime bourse surged by Tk 226 billion or 4.01 per cent in the outgoing week to reach an all-time high at Tk 5.86 trillion on Thursday.
The value of large-cap listed securities such as British American Tobacco, Grameenphone, Beximco Pharma, Square Pharma and Walton soared substantially in the outgoing week, which added impetus to the market-cap and stock-index growth.
The stock price of British American Tobacco jumped 12.60 per cent, followed by Beximco Pharma with 8.68 per cent, Square Pharma 8.15 per cent, GP 6.67 per cent and Walton 3.12 per cent.
DSEX, the benchmark of the DSE, surpassed the 7,200-mark for the first time during the week to settle at 7,258, after soaring 277.69 points or 3.98 per cent as all five trading days of the week closed higher.
Two other indices--the DSE 30 Index and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) -- followed suit to close at their new highs of 2,647 and 1,592, after soaring 150.30 points and 83.65 points respectively during the week.
The week's total turnover on the DSE stood at Tk 138.88 billion against Tk 89.36 billion in the previous week as last week saw five trading days instead of the previous week's four.
The daily average turnover stood at Tk 27.77 billion on the country's premier bourse, which was 24.32 per cent higher than the previous week's average of Tk 22.34 billion.
Stocks rallied for the past eight straight sessions continuing its record run with no signs of slowing down, raising questions among investors whether stocks are overvalued.
Market analysts said high confidence of investors, lower interest rate and excess liquidity in the banking sector prompted them to perk up their funds into stocks.
However, most junk stocks saw the highest price hike in recent weeks, which is risky for investors, they said.
Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also stayed upbeat with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -soaring 803 points to settle at its historical high at 21,131 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX rising 490 points to close at new high at 12,673.
Of the issues traded, 187 advanced, 141 declined and 15 remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.
The port-city bourse traded 158.32 million shares and mutual-fund units with turnover value of Tk 4.68 billion.
