Stocks posted a marginal gain on Thursday, with the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSEX), hitting a new high since its inception more than eight year back.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 8.06 points or 0.12 per cent to settle at 6,425, the highest since its inception in 2013.
The DSEX was introduced more than eight years back on January 27, 2013, designed by Standard and Poor’s (S&P) based on the free-float methodology, replacing the then key index – DGEN. However, the all-time high DGEN was 8,918 recorded on December 5, 2010, when the market saw a bull run before a crash.
Meanwhile, trading will take place three days next week – Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in line with the banking schedule. Trading will be held four hours from 10:00am to 2:00pm on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Banks and the stock market will remain closed on Sunday and Wednesday.
Two other indices also ended higher with the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 4.39 points to finish at 2,327 and the DSE Shariah Index rose 4.63 points to close at 1,401.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 15.21 billion on the country’s premier bourse, which was 12 per cent higher than the previous day’s tally of Tk 13.61 billion.
Market insiders said the institutional investors preferred buying stocks as they hope the index will continue to rise as money flow in the banking sector may increase further.
The investors are also optimistic as the Bangladesh Bank will continue the ongoing expansionary monetary policy stance this fiscal year, which will help the market to get more liquidity, they said.
The expansionary monetary policy has made money cheaper than ever as the central bank has also supplied a large volume of funds to implement the massive stimulus packages of the government to counter the impacts of the pandemic.
Loser, however, took a modest lead over the gainers, as out of 374 issues traded, 167 ended lower, 159 higher while 48 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 234,503 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 506.97 million shares and mutual fund units.
Beximco - the flagship company of Beximco Group-backed to the top turnover list with shares worth Tk 609 million changing hands, closely followed by GPH Ispat (Tk 510 million), Saif Powertec (Tk 358 million), BATBC (Tk 277 million) and Active Fine Chemicals (Tk 244 million).
Low-cap companies continued to dominate the day’s gainer’s chart with Coppertech Industries was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent while Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills was the worst loser, losing 5.35 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also closed marginally higher with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—gaining 13.68 points to finish at 18,635 while the Selective Categories Index – CSCX advanced 8.0 points to close at 11,190.
Of the issues traded, 141 advanced, 138 declined and 36 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 18.23 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 458 million.
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