Institutional buying lifts stocks

Strong institutional participation enabled stocks to rally on Thursday as they bought at dip in the recent market rout.

The benchmark index DSEX closed up 50 points or 0.81 per cent to 6,237, after losing 73 points in the previous two sessions.

However, retail investors preferred to stay on the sidelines as the market has been going through extreme volatility in recent sessions caused by the brewing developments on the macroeconomic front.

Several recent measures including raising credit limit and reducing lower limit circuit helped lift sentiment but some analysts warned the optimism could be temporary as the market grappled with uncertainty over the economy, analysts say.

However, Thursday’s rebounding was led mainly by financial institutions, cement, textile, telecommunications and pharmaceutical stocks. Yet, the insurance sector was the only unlucky sector that edged down.

The gainers outperformed losers as out 374 issues traded, 273 advanced, 61 declined and 40 remained unchanged.

Turnover on Dhaka Stock Exchange amounted to Tk 540 crore, marginally up by more than 5 per cent from Wednesday’s Tk 510 crore backed by miscellaneous (20.4 per cent), financial institutions (16.4 per cent) and pharmaceuticals (9.9 per cent).

“Stocks on the Dhaka bourse ended in the green zone amidst lower participation of investors as worries over the global economic outlook enticed them to remain on the sidelines,” said the EBL Securities in a note.