Stocks under bear grip for 4th straight week

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has extended its losing streak to the fourth straight week amid the global turmoil triggered by the Russian invasion on Ukraine.

However, the equity indices on the Dhaka bourse managed to rebound to some extent in the last two trading sessions after days of free-fall as the stock market regulator stepped in and imposed the lower circuit limit at 2 per cent.

The benchmark DSEX index declined 28.37 points or 0.42 per cent to end the week at 6,668, which was at 6,696 in the previous week.

The junior indices of the bourse also settled in red territory as the blue-chip comprising DS30 index fell 37.84 points or 1.54 per cent to 2,425 and the Shariah-based DSES index shed 6.59 points or 0.46 per cent to 1,435 points.

The market capitalization, another key market indicator, also decreased 0.62 per cent in the week as it declined to Tk 5,35,106 crore from Tk 5,38,427 crore recorded in the previous week.

However, the bourse’s average turnover increased 6.04 per cent to Tk 794 crore from Tk 749 crore in the previous week.

Out of 386 issues traded in the week, 207 advanced while 156 declined and 23 remained unchanged.

The BSEC move to impose the lower circuit limit at 2 per cent has prompted investors to pour fresh funds in stocks, say analysts.

EBL Securities, in its weekly market commentary, said the stock market regulator asked the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) to pump Tk 100 crore in the capital market and also encouraged scheduled banks to invest more in stocks, which impacted investors positively.

Besides, the global price instability due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict still remains a concern over the future macroeconomic scenario of Bangladesh, it added.

Investors were mostly active in textiles (13.3 per cent), miscellaneous (13.0 per cent) and pharmaceuticals and chemicals (12.5 per cent) sectors.

Most sectors witnessed negative performances out of which IT (8.1 per cent), textiles (2.3 per cent) and mutual fund (1.5 per cent) witnessed the highest appreciations and food and allied (-4.6 per cent), life insurance (-2.4 per cent) and cement (-1.8 per cent) witnessed the most corrections this week.

BDCOM Online was the top gainer in past week with 41.74 per cent jump in share price on the Dhaka bourse. It was followed by BD Thai Food and Beverage, Agni Systems, Intech Limited, Queen South Textile, and ADN Telecom.

On the other hand, Vanguard AML Rupali Bank Balanced Fund turned out to be the week’s top loser as its share price plunged 15.48 per cent. The fund was followed by Aramit Cement, Bangladesh Finance, IDLC Finance and Shurwid Industries Limited.

Beacon Pharmaceuticals was the week’s top index puller, followed by Mercantile Bank, BDCOM Online, First Security Islami Bank, BSRM Steel, One Bank, and IFIC Bank.

Beximco Pharma was the week’s top index dragger, followed by BRAC Bank, RENATA, Square Pharma, Olympic, Grameenphone, and IDLC.