Stocks extended their winning streak on Thursday as investors went on buying spree just ahead of unveiling the national budget.
DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock (DSE), went up by 34.42 points or 0.57 per cent to settle at 6,053.
It is the highest level of DSEX in more than three years since February 4 2018, when DSEX was 6,102.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also hit a fresh all-time high at Tk 5,089 billion on Thursday, surpassing the previous day’s record high of Tk 5,052 billion.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal unveiled the national budget for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-2022 on Thursday.
The budget proposed to cut corporate tax for listed and non-listed companies by 2.5 percentage points to 22.5 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.
But the tax gap between listed and non-listed firms remained unchanged which analysts think would discourage non-listed firms to go public.
Market experts said the prime index stayed the above the ‘psychological’ threshold of 6,000-mark as investors put fresh funds on financial stocks amid budgetary expectations.
The institutional investors and high nets worth individual investors were putting fresh funds on stocks in high hope of budget incentives, said a merchant banker.
However, many investors were cautiously waiting and analyzing the proposed budget before making any further investment decisions, he said.
The investors showed confidence to the market and the bargain hunters injecting fresh funds in expectation of capital gains from the recent rally, commented EBL Securities.
The hyped-up insurance stock reached an exorbitant price level as investors rush to get a hold of the insurance issues, said the stockbroker.
The present stock market regulator took some market supportive measures in the past few months, which boosted the investors’ confidence in the market, said a top broker.
Two other indices also edged higher with the DSE 30 Index, comprising blue chips, advanced 8.25 points to finish at 2,203 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) rose 8.65 points to close at 1,293.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 21.82 billion, on the country’s premier bourse, which was nearly 5.0 per cent lower than the previous day’s mark of Tk 22.87 billion.
The market opened sharply higher and closed in the same direction without any major fluctuation riding on the positive expectations from the new budget, commented International Leasing Securities.
The stockbroker noted that buoyancy in insurance, engineering, textile, telecom, cement and pharma sectors helped the benchmark index to stay upbeat.
However, some investors booked some quick gain on bank and financial institution sectors, said the stockbroker. Low-cap general insurance sector remained center of investors’ attention as seven out of top 10 gainers were general insurers.
Most of the sectors posted gain with general insurance generated the highest return of 6.30 per cent, followed by engineering with 3.10 per cent, life insurance 2.0 per cent.
On the other hand, banking, financial institutions and jute sectors lost 0.7 per cent, 0.60 per cent and 0.03 per cent respectively.
Gainers took a modest lead over the losers, as out of 361 issues traded, 184 advanced, 111 declined and 66 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco - the flagship company of Beximco Group- continued to dominate the turnover chart with shares worth about Tk 967 million changing hands, followed by Pioneer Insurance (Tk 582 million), NRB Commercial (Tk 475 million), LankaBangla Finance (Tk 427 million) and IFAD Autos (Tk 401 million).
AFC Agro Biotech was the day’s top gainer, posting 10 per cent gain while Aman Feed was the worst loser, losing 5.05 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended higher with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –gaining 100 points to settle at 17,543 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX rising 61 points to close at 10,574.
Of the issues traded, 159 advanced, 105 declined and 31 issues remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city’s bourse traded 21.43 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 566 million.
