Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – US stocks climbed, extending gains from the best quarter for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since 1998, as improving measures of manufacturing and home sales added to evidence that the worst of the recession is over.
However, with the release of the June non-farm payrolls data just a day away, some caution prevailed, causing indexes to finish sharply off their highs. Dow Jones Industrial Average added 204 points or 2.5 percent over the week while the NASDAQ Composite recorded a weekly gain of 53 points or 2.98 percent.
Asian markets gained on rising commodity prices and a weaker Yen. The Nikkei closed Thursday 0.82 percent above the last week’s level. The BSE Sensex gained 276 points to 14,622.52 for a weekly gain of 1.93 percent.
Turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Thursday touched an all-time high of BDT 11.49 billion, just two days after it topped BDT 9 billion. The daily transaction on the country’s premier bourse reached BDT 9.42 billion, as investors shrugged off a hoax bomb threat that shut trading an hour earlier than the scheduled a day before.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange General Index posted a 6.2 percent weekly gain to end the week above 3,000 level. Turnover leapt to a new height four times last month.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-03July09-4:24 pm (BST)
