DSE suffers volatile week amid resurging Covid fears

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) remained choppy for most of the sessions in the past week amid increasing Covid-19 every other day.

The benchmark DSEX index edged almost 30 points or 0.4 per cent to settle at 7,017 in the week ended on Thursday.

Both buying and selling pressure persisted throughout the week in index-heavy sectors as the coronavirus restrictions made investors wary.

The week kicked off on a positive note due to the institutional buying which pushed the benchmark index above the 7,000-mark during

the week.

Besides, institutional investors poured funds on some state-owned enterprises’ stocks, which also helped increase the average daily turnover that was up 20.72 per cent to stand at Tk 1,566 crore during the week.

A report from EBL Securities noted that several state-owned companies have witnessed large price appreciation this week owing to probable buying pressure from institutional investors”.

Port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange’s (CSE) major index CASPI increased 0.24 to 20,545 points and CSCX increased 0.25 per cent to 12,310.

Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC), a state-run ocean-going vessel management company, saw a rise of 113 per cent in only 11 trading days on the DSE. Another state-run company Eastern Cables share price rose more than 14 per cent to Tk 150.7 in the last week.

Investors were mostly active in fuel and power, miscellaneous and engineering sectors. Most sectors witnessed positive performance out of which ceramic, paper, and tannery witnessed the highest return in the week and general insurance, IT and travel faced the most correction.

Fareast Islami Life Insurance, the scam heat company, was the top gainer surging around 44 per cent to Tk 98.3 and Delta Life Insurance was the top loser falling more than 12 per cent to

Tk 186.3.

Square Pharma was the index puller in DSE last week contributing around 16 points to the DSEX while Delta Life Insurance was the index dragger chipping away 8.8 points from the DSEX.

BeximcoSukuk, an Islamic bond, debuted on the bourses on Thursday, the last session of the week. On the debut day, the bond gained 1 per cent to Tk 101 after trading between Tk 110 and

Tk 99.5.