Daily turnover of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) soared to a 16-month high of Tk 1,654 crore today thanks to the increased participation of some major individual investors.

The last time that turnover, which measures the total volume of shares traded within a specific period, had reached such levels was when it touched Tk 1,810 crore on September 25, 2022.

But although the key indicator of the market's health has been rising over the past several days, most of the trade was concentrated on underperforming stocks, according to a stockbroker.

This is not a good sign for the market as it means that some large individual investors are trading these stocks despite their poor reputation.

Meanwhile, institutional investors remain on the sidelines, with well-performing stocks still not getting enough attention.

Nevertheless, the rising turnover is boosting investor confidence so market regulators need to ensure that there is no foul play in the future, he added.

Block trades, which are privately negotiated transactions, accounted for 2.1 percent of the overall market turnover.

Shares of Orion Infusion saw the most trade, with transactions amounting to Tk 77 crore, followed by BD Thai with Tk 56 crore and Fu-Wang Foods with Tk 48 crore.

Khulna Printing and Packaging and Karnaphuli Insurance also made significant contributions to the daily turnover, with their shares registering trade of Tk 45 crore and Tk 35 crore respectively.

Global Islami Bank PLC lead the top gainers' list with its share value having risen by 10 percent while that of Standard Ceramic Industries increased by 9.99 percent.

Bangladesh Lamps, Coppertech Industries and Progressive Life Insurance featured on the list as well, with their shares having risen by 9.98 percent, 9.96 percent and 9.94 percent respectively.

Miracle Industries registered the day's worst performance as its share value fell by 4.8 percent.

Similarly, shares of Prime Finance First Mutual Fund and Pacific Denims saw their values erode by 3.82 percent and 3.75 percent respectively.

Among the major sectors, paper and printing rose by 4.8 percent, non-bank financial institutions increased 4.24 percent, life insurance advanced 3.37 percent and engineering edged up 3.17 percent.

As such, the DSEX, the main index for measuring share price performance at the DSE, increased by 0.66 percent to close the trading session at 6,322 points.

Stocks of the engineering sector were traded the most, logging Tk 235 crore of the day's turnover, while that of the pharmaceuticals sector notched Tk 210 crore and general insurance sector got Tk 199 crore.

A bull-run was also seen at the Chittagong Stock Exchange.

The CASPI, the broad index of the port city bourse, increased 1 percent to close the day at 18,032 points.