The country's capital market extended its gaining streak for the third consecutive week on Thursday as investor confidence stayed strong on favourable earnings recorded in the recently ended quarter, and recent regulatory support measures.

DSEX, the broad index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), gained 39 points, or 0.73%, to settle at 5,355 points. In parallel, the DS30 index, representing 30 major companies, climbed 20.87 points to close at 1,986.41 and the DSES index, which tracks Shariah-compliant stocks, also saw upward trend with 1.61 up at 1,189.52.

However, investors participation in the market declined with turnover falling 8.5% to Tk5,540 million from Tk6,058 million in the previous week. Investors were mostly active in Pharma sector (15.7%), followed by Bank sector (12.8%) and Textile sector (9.5%).

Market analysts opined that the regulatory efforts to regain investors' market confidence and capital gains tax news boosted a section of investors' confidence to some extent.

The news that the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) received a sovereign guarantee against Tk30 billion loans sought from the Bangladesh Bank for investing in the capital market also boosted investors' confidence.

EBL Securities said in its weekly market review that the market remained volatile throughout the week as both buyers and sellers remained active on both sides of the trading fence to grab the rein of market momentum.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also witnessed accelerated momentum with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –advancing 28.61 points to settle at 14880.22 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX – gaining 29.79 points to close at 9,062.55.