Stocks on road to recovery, turnover up

Dhaka stocks logged back-to-back positive sessions coupled with growing participation as bargain hunters continued chasing the beaten-down issues in hope of quick gains.

The steady recovery of the country’s economic crises fueled investors’ optimism to put fresh funds in the market, analysts say, prompting the hope for the rebound of the month-long bearish trend of the market.

The DSEX, the broad index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), jumped 27.4 points or 0.43 per cent to settle at 6,266 against 6,240 points in the previous trading session.

Among other indices, the DS30, the blue-chip index, added 8.07 points or 0.36 per cent to close at 2,213, and the DSES, the Shariah-based index, gained 8.27 points or 0.60 per cent to finish at 1,372.

Meanwhile, the primier bourse witnessed a significant jump in participation with the turnover soaring by 37.1 per cent to Tk 568 crore against the tally of Tk 414 crore in the previous trading session.

The market started the session with an upward momentum and sustained the trend throughout the session as investors opted to take positions in equities as the prevailing concerns regarding political unrest alleviated to some extent in the country, said EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its daily market review.

Cautious investors, however, could not yet regain confidence on the trading floor, as limited liquidation opportunities in the market and dismal performance forecasts of the majority of listed companies exacerbated their concerns about the market future.

The pharma & chemicals sector topped the turnover chart with a contribution of 27.2 per cent to the total turnover, followed by the IT (12.3 per cent) and the paper (9.5 per cent).

Most of the sectors displayed positive returns at the Dhaka bourse with the jute posting the highest gain of (7.5 per cent), followed by paper (3.8 per cent) and services (1.9 per cent).

On the other hand, the tannery sector suffered the most, followed by the ceramic stocks.

Out of the 356 issues traded, 74 stocks advanced, 17 issues declined, and 299 scrips did not see any price movement on the DSE trading floor.

The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also settled on green terrain yesterday with its two major indices – the selected indices (CSCX), and the all share price index (CASPI), advancing by 51.8 points and 86.5 points respectively.