Stocks returned to the black yesterday, breaking a three-day losing streak, as investors went on a buying spree despite the political instability in the country.

DGEN, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, advanced 39.76 points or 0.99 percent, to close at 4,048.59 points at the 2:30pm closure.

The premier bourse saw active selling pressure from the beginning of the trading hour, but finally closed in the black thanks to investors buying in anticipation of a bear run in the market.

“The market went buoyant amid thin trading on the countrywide hartal. As trading activities were hampered by the political anarchy, turnover declined 23.85 percent from the previous session,” IDLC Investments said in its daily market analysis.

A total of 0.62 lakh trades were executed generating turnover of Tk 160 crore with 4.13 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands on the Dhaka bourse.

All the major sectors ended in the green. Banks got the rally for the second straight session, going up 2.37 percent.

Non-bank financial institutions rose 0.65 percent, power 0.64 percent, pharma 0.47 percent and telecoms 0.07 percent.

Mutual funds advanced 5.56 percent, the most among all the sectors and dominating the top ten gainers' chart as all issues on the chart were from this sector.

Prime Finance First Mutual Fund was the biggest gainer of the day, as it accelerated 9.48 percent. Sonali Aansh was the worst loser, slumping8.42 percent.

Of the 268 issues that traded on the DSE, 218 advanced, 45 declined and five remained unchanged.

United Airways featured in the most traded stocks' chart with 47.88 lakh shares worth Tk 9.8 crore changing hands.

Unique Hotel and Resorts and Envoy Textile were the next popular stocks of the day.

CSCX, the selective categories index of Chittagong Stock Exchange, finished the day at 7,886 points, after gaining 69.84 points or 0.89 percent.

Losers beat gainers 117 to 35, with eight securities remaining unchanged at the port city bourse that traded 81.19 crore shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 22.36 crore in turnover.