Stocks surge amid turnover fall

After a downbeat start to the week, stocks on the Dhaka bourse continued their upward momentum for the second consecutive session on Tuesday, with key indices posting gains.

With today's (16 September) gain of 34.89 points, DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), surpassed the 5,509 points mark after two trading sessions, closing at 5,509 points.

Although indices have surged, riding on some blue-chip stocks, with increasing most stocks traded at the bourse, turnover at the DSE fell by 4% to 674.13 crore as investor participation remained sluggish.

According to the DSE, of the traded stocks on Tuesday, 221 stocks saw price decline while 103 stocks declined, and 76 remained unchanged.

The trading pattern showed, stocks at the beginning opened on a positive note with an increase in all key indices.

Despite having selling pressure in the mid sessions, throughout the whole session, DSEX was positive and finally ended in the green territory.

EBL Securities, in its daily market commentary, said that Dhaka stocks rebounded as opportunistic investors turned back to the market owing to positive expectations, although trading participation remained subdued since cautious investors hinged to a wait-and-see approach amid a weakening market trend.

"The market started off with an upward momentum riding on price appreciation across the majority of scrips, although continued profit-taking tendency kept the indices in check," it read.

On the sectoral front, the Bank sector issues exerted the highest by 16.0% in total turnover, followed by the Pharma by 11.7% and the Engineering by 11.1% sectors.

Crown Cement PLC led the top gainer chart with a gain of its shares by 9.86% to Tk63.5 each. A total of 7.23 lakh shares traded on the DSE with a value of Tk4.54 crore.

Other top gainers are – United Commercial Bank with 9.27% to Tk10.6 each, Metro Spinning Mills with 9.25% to Tk11.8 each, Sonali Paper Mills with 7.58% to Tk273.6 each, and Sonali Aansh with 7.53% to Tk235.4 each.

On the loser side, Fareast Finance saw the highest price decline on yesterday as its share price declined by 6.66% to Tk1.4 each, followed by CAPM BDBL Mutual Fund with 5.12%, Union Bank by 5% to Tk1.9 each, Exim Bank by 4.76% to Tk4 each, and S Alam Cold Rolled Steel by 4.18% to Tk22.9 each.

The port city bourse, CSE, also settled on green terrain. The Selective Categories' Index (CSCX) and All Share Price Index (CASPI) advanced by 45.2 points and 66.8 points, respectively.