Scrips see enormous take-off from the floor

Bangladesh's stock market wore a deserted look during the government holiday declared to stem the spread of Covid-19. No facility, invitation or request was turning buyers towards the market.

Thus, in March, in the wake of the pandemic, the securities regulator came up with a floor price mechanism to protect the market from devastation.

The step drew mixed reactions as majority investors, mainly with small accounts, felt safe, while large account holders had a problem of liquidity.

In May and June, Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), very confidently said that the emergency measure would be lifted at a time when it was no longer relevant.

It seems the debate has now been forgotten in less than two months.

A large number of investors, who believed in the confidence building measures taken by the new commission at BSEC, are curiously calculating the opportunities on the stock market; with the interest rate coming down, the money market becoming more liquid and the economy getting back to life after a 66-day shutdown.

The days of interim pains, when sellers were frustrated seeing no buyers, have also disappeared fast. 

Of the around 350 stocks and mutual funds listed with the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), 50-100 stocks were in spontaneous trading that pushed the daily turnover below Tk100 crore.

The rally, mainly beginning with the new fiscal year, now saw less than a dozen stocks hover around the floor price set for individual scrips.

Daily turnover has now crossed the Tk1,000 crore mark, while last year's daily average was half of this.

Investors and analysts are cheering the life of the market. They have seen individual scrips witness an enormous take-off from the floor.

In a screening of individual scrips returns since March 19 until the beginning of the week, the top fliers may stun one because of the rate of return within a mere five months.

The top ten companies have returned 80-186 percent till August 10, according to a table compiled by a top brokerage research team. 

The team leader, while talking to The Business Standard, said without a doubt, such gains are extraordinary in nature and one should not expect as much from the stock market as high returns are synonymous with risk.

In a note of disclaimer, he said there is no certainty that the same stocks, which have already returned high, will return more in the coming days.

However, the figures of stunning gains within months will surely help attract investors, he added.