Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh’s stocks edged higher for the two consecutive weeks that ended on Thursday as investors went on buying large-cap stocks ahead of corporate declarations, the first week of the new fiscal year.
The week witnessed five trading sessions as usual. The week began on Sunday with downward, but showed recovery in the next two sessions before coming back to the negative territory again during the last two days of the week.
The market recovered from first day’s slump during the week. The first trading day of the week started with huge slump in the benchmark index.
DSEX lost around 66 points during the first trading hour of the opening day of the week, however, recovered 54 points thereafter.
The benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) went up by 30.34 points or 0.67 percent to finish the week at 4,537.92 points.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 7.88 points or 0.45 percent to settle at 1,778.70 points.
The DSE Shariah Index also gained 5.91 points or 0.53 percent to close at 1,116.74 points.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended higher with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, advancing 80.89 points or 0.96 percent to settle at 8,477.53 points.
The total turnover amounted to BDT 17.14 billion last week against BDT 19.70 billion in the previous week.
The daily turnover averaged BDT 3.43 billion, registering a decline of 13 percent over the previous week’s average of BDT 3.94 billion.
IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, said, “The market encountered some consolidation, as few investors booked profit and repositioned”.
Gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 328 issues traded, 178 closed higher, 128 closed lower and 22 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor during the week.
ACME Laboratories dominated the week’s turnover chart with 7.18 million shares worth BDT 848 million changing hands, followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, Shahjibazar Power Company, Islami Bank and Lafarge Surma Cement.
Exim Bank First Mutual Fund was the week’s best performer, posting a rise of 29.63 percent, while SEML Lecture Equity Management Fund was the worst loser, slumping by 13.53 percent.
BBN/AD/SR