Stocks extended the winning streak for fourth straight sessions on Monday as a section of investors continued their buying binge on large-cap issues riding on regulatory moves to restore discipline in the country’s capital market.
Following previous week’s upbeat trend, the market opened on optimistic note and the core index of the major bourse jumped more than 75 points, crossing the 4900-mark within first 30 minutes of trading.
But rest of the session went down steadily as investors opted for booking profit on selective stocks. Eventually, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 5.97 points or 0.12 per cent to settle at 4,879
DSEX surged 116 points or 2.45 per cent in the past four consecutive sessions.
Market operators said the enthusiastic investors continued their buying appetite on large-cap stocks amid growing confidence in the market following the regulator’s recent steps to ensure accountability of the market stakeholders.
Lower returns on the money market, lucrative price level of securities, strong regulatory actions against wrongdoers and expansionary monetary policy tempted the bargain hunters to inject funds in the market, said a merchant banker.
He noted that high net worth investors are injecting fresh funds into the market targeting capital gains as returns from the money market and others instruments have declined sharply.
National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman’s comment that no one will raise questions over legalisation of untaxed money also boosted investors’ confidence, he added.
Two other indices also edged higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 9.44 points to finish at 1,699 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 2.23 points to close at 1,132.
Turnover, the crucial indicator of the market, crossed Tk 11 billion-mark once again and amounted to Tk 11.66 billion on the country’s premier bourse, which was Tk 29 per cent higher than the previous day’s Tk 9.07 billion.
Lowers, however, outnumbered the gainers, as out of 348 issues traded, 191 closed lower, 116 ended higher while 41 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
A total number of 198,801 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 318.36 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap on the premier bourse rose to Tk 3,698 billion on Monday, from Tk 3,696 billion in the previous session.
Pharmaceuticals sector continued to dominate the turnover chart with Beximco Pharma topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 1.40 billion changing hands, followed by Beximco, Brac Bank, Delta Brac Housing Finance and Square Pharma.
Low-profile companies continued to dominate the gainers chart with Bay Leasing was the best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent while CAPM IBBL Islamic Mutual Fund was the worst loser, losing 9.75 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange also edged higher with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)—gaining 35 points to close at 13,908 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –gaining 16 points to finish at 8,400.
Of the issues traded, 102 gained, 116 declined and 45 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 12.98 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 329 million.
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