Stocks extended the winning streak amid the shortened trading hours on Thursday despite the ongoing strict lockdown across the country.
The government enforced a seven-day fresh lockdown from April 14 to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
Despite the complete lockdown, stock trading were open on a limited scale at 10:00am to 12:30pm in parallel with the banking hours during the lockdown.
Investors’ presence on the trading floor was very thin due to the lockdown. However, most of the investors executed trade through mobile apps and online trading, said a DSE (Dhaka Stock Exchange) official.
The prime bourse and brokerage houses also encouraged investors to conduct share transactions through mobile apps and online trading amid the ongoing pandemic.
The market opened higher in the morning and it continued until the end of the session with no sign of reversal, as optimistic investors, mostly institutional ones, were active on low-priced stocks.
DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went up by 51.68 points or 0.98 per cent to settle at 5,310 over the previous session.
DSEX has added more than 145 points during the past three trading sessions.
Market operators said lucrative price levels of many stocks coupled with lowered the circuit breaker limit to 2.0 per cent from the existing 10 per cent for 66 companies encouraged investors to take positions despite the lockdown.
The investors, mostly institutional ones, are taking advantage of low priced securities of some large-cap issues, which helped the market to stay afloat, said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm.
Two other indices also closed higher. Of them, DSE30 Index, comprising blue chips, rose 29.19 points to finish at 2,026 and DSE Shariah Index (DSES) gained 10.50 points to close at 1,209.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, also rose to Tk 5.56 billion, which was 8.60 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 5.12 billion.
Gainers took a strong lead over losers, as out of 355 issues traded, 216 advanced, 90 declined and 49 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco - the flagship company of Beximco Group- was the most-traded stock with shares worth about Tk 707 million changing hands, followed by BD Finance (Tk 343 million), Robi (Tk 226 million), LankaBangla Finance (Tk 205 million) and Asia Pacific Insurance (Tk 154 million).
The mutual fund sector shone on the day after a long time as seven out of top 10 gainers were mutual funds.
SEML IBBL Shariah Fund was the day’s top gainer, posting a 10 per cent gain while Delta Brac Housing Finance was the worst loser, losing 12.95 per cent following its price adjustment after record date.
A total number of 107,388 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 174.98 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of DSE also rose to Tk 4,627 billion on Thursday, up from Tk 4,585 billion in the previous session.
Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended higher with its CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) rising 184 points to settle at 15,379 and Selective Categories Index (CSCX) soaring 110 points to close at 9,277.
Of the issues traded, 144 advanced, 64 declined and 21 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city’s bourse traded 6.95 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 193 million.
