Holding of national polls boosts investors' confidence

FE Report

The Dhaka stock market experienced a bullish trend for the second consecutive week that ended Thursday, spurred by the peaceful holding of national polls.

The benchmark Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) General Index (DGEN) rose 6.75 per cent or 177.47 points to end at 2807.61 with the daily average turnover marking a significant increase of 55.58 per cent in the week.

The index recovered about 300 points in the last two weeks, thanks to the increased participation of large number of investors.

Analysts said the peaceful holding of the general election after a gap of two years gave a fillip to the investors' confidence.

Moreover, the higher operating profits made by the private commercial banks in the just concluded calendar year boosted the market, they opined.

The institutional investors, who completed their year-end loan adjustment, also started coming back, which is also a positive signal for the market.

The prime bourse shortened to three trading days from five because it remained closed in second session due to national election and in the fourth session Wednesday for year-end bank holiday.

The gainers took a strong lead over the losers. Out of 295 issues traded, 196 advanced, 39 declined, 82 remained unchanged and 52 were not traded in the week.

The daily average turnover, however, increased to Tk 3.84 billion against the previous week's Tk 2.46 billion.

During the week, two other market barometers All Shares Price Index (DSI) and DSE-20 comprising blue chips gained 144.99 points and 120.39 points to finish at 2321.04 and 2316.54 respectively.

The DSE touched the milestone in terms of market capitalization that rose to Tk 1.04 trillion against Tk 997.62 billion of the previous week.

The two issues --Maksons Spining Mills Limited and National Housing Finance and Investment Limited-made debut in the last session Thursday, the first day of the New Year.

In the debut trading day, share prices of Maksons Spinning closed at Tk 42.00 a share against the face value of Tk 10 each and National Housing 829.00 per cent to finish at Tk 929.00 per share against the face value of Tk 100 each.

Beximco Pharma was the turnover leader with shares worth Tk 1.04 billion trading and accounted for about 8.93 per cent of the week's total market turnover of Tk 11.52 billion at the prime bourse.

In the week, Summit Power, Titas Gas, Grameen One Scheme Two Mutual Fund, Beximco Limited , ACI Formulations Limited, Shinepukur Ceramics Limited, ACI Limited , NBL and Uttara Bank were the other next turnover leaders.

The top ten gainers were Samata Leather, Olympic Industries, Bangladesh Online Limited, BDCOM Online Limited, Summit Power, AIMS First Mutual Fund, Grameen One Scheme Two Mutual Fund, CMC Kamal, BCIL and Beximco Synthesis.

The top ten losers were Shayampur Sugar Mills Limited, Renwick Jajneswar, Meghna Condensed Milk, Eastern Lubricants, Bangla Process, Zeal Bangla Sugar, Meghna Pet, Dulama Cotton, Perfume Chemicals and Dhaka Fisheries.

The A-category issues accounted for 73.49 per cent of the total turnover in value during the week, B-category 0.98 per cent, N-category 22.10 per cent and Z-category 3.43 per cent.