S Alam Cold Rolled Steels shares surge unexpectedly amid business struggles
The sudden surge in share price comes as a surprise to market participants, given the company’s recent disclosures about severe operational hurdles
In a surprising turn of events, shares of S Alam Cold Rolled Steels surged by 9.18% yesterday, defying the company's ongoing operational and financial challenges.
The stock secured the second position on the top gainers' list on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), despite the company's well-documented struggles to sustain its business operations.
During the trading session, the company's share price climbed to Tk10.70, up from Tk9.80 in the previous session. A total of 3.25 lakh shares were traded, generating a turnover of Tk0.33 crore.
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The sudden surge in share price comes as a surprise to market participants, given the company's recent disclosures about severe operational hurdles.
S Alam Cold Rolled Steels, the only listed entity under the controversial S Alam Group, has been under intense scrutiny due to its financial difficulties. The company recently disclosed that its bank accounts have been frozen and that it faces restrictions on opening LCs, which have severely impacted its operations. Additionally, its market capitalisation has plummeted by over 63% since July 2024, reflecting a sharp erosion of investor confidence.
Despite these challenges, the stock's unexpected rally has left investors and analysts speculating about the reasons behind the sudden uptick. Some market observers attribute the surge to speculative trading or short-term market dynamics.
Daily market
DSEX, the broad index of the DSE, edged down by 2.7 points or 0.1% to settle at 5,198 points yesterday, as against 5,201 points in the previous trading session. But the blue-chip DS30 gained 2 points to reach 1,921.
Among the traded issues, 138 advanced, 196 declined and 75 remained unchanged.
The market turnover increased by 3.5% to Tk416 crore as against Tk401 crore in the previous session.
The EBL Securities in its daily market commentary said the benchmark index of the capital bourse observed a merely flat session today as investors preferred to book their short-term profits on recently priced speculative stocks, while buying interest witnessed in some December-closing blue-chip scrips.
The market experienced a tussle between buyers and sellers to take control of its momentum, it said. However, investors opted to sell off recently surged speculative stocks as part of portfolio rebalancing, ultimately dragging the benchmark index to settle in the negative zone, it added.
On the sectoral front, the pharma stocks contributed the largest share of total turnover, accounting for 13.4%, followed by the textile and the bank sectors.
BDCOM Online topped the DSE gainer chart with a 9.92% increase, followed by Regent Textile, GQ Ball Pen and Tosrifa Industries.
On the other hand, New Line Clothings led the losers' list, with a 9.92% decline, followed by Khulna Printing and Packaging, Appollo Ispat and Nurani Dyeing.
Robi Axiata was the top-traded stock of the day, with a trading value of Tk20 crore, followed by BRAC Bank, Grameenphone and BDCOM Online.
Meanwhile, the Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended the day on a negative note, with both the Selective Categories Index and the All Share Price Index dropping by 10 and 25 points, respectively.
