Heavyweights help stocks break three-day fall

Dhaka stocks gained on Monday, breaking losses of three consecutive days, lifted by some heavyweights.

However, the market went through the volatility throughout the entire session as investors still remained unconvinced about the market’s stability in the near future, dealers say.

The benchmark DSEX index rose 30 points or 0.59 per cent to settle at 6,669, scaling back from the previous session’s 23-week low, after hitting a high of 6,692 and a low of 6,650.

The Shariah-based index DSES was up around 9 points or 0.62 per cent at 1,417 while the blue-chip comprising the DS30 index rallied 16 points or 0.64 per cent at 2,504.

The market pullers are Square Pharmaceuticals that contributed more than 7 points to the key index, followed by Beximco Ltd 6.41 points, Robi 4.5 points, Beacon Pharmaceuticals 3.87 points, Marico 2.56 points, UPGDCL 2.37 points, ICB 1.91 points, Orion Pharmaceuticals 1.81 points, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation 1.8 points and Brac Bank 1.2 points.

All the large-cap sectors posted positive performance. Pharmaceutical booked the highest gain of 1.16 per cent followed by NBFI 0.60 per cent, energy 0.47 per cent, bank 0.33 per cent, telecommunication 0.21 per cent, and bank 0.33 per cent.

On the other hand, the insurance sector fell 0.83 per cent, ending its rally for the second straight session.

Most of the retail investors preferred to stay sidelines, causing the trading activity down as the turnover declined 16 per cent to Tk 745 crore from the previous session’s Tk 8,85 crore.

The securities regulator’s margin loan relaxation failed to boos the investor mood.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) relaxed the margin loan norms aiming at increasing greater fund flow to the cash-starved stock market.

From now on, lenders can provide margin loans to their clients against any listed companies except the junk ones soon after the companies’ changing categorisation, said the regulator in a statement on Sunday.

Shares of 378 companies were traded, of which 196 registered an increase, 142 recorded a fall, and 40 remained unchanged.

Prime Insurance was the top gainer hitting the upper limit circuit at 10 per cent, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation 9.9 per cent, and Atlas Bangladesh 9.83 per cent.

The top losers included Meghna Condensed Milk, AMCL ( Pran), Provati Insurance, Meghna Pet, Gemini Sea Food and Apex Foods.

Beximco Ltd was the most traded stock, followed by Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Asia Insurance, Genex Infosys, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, One Bank and Beacon Pharmaceuticals.