Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Bangladesh’s stocks edged higher for the two consecutive weeks that ended on Thursday as optimistic investors were active on sector specific stocks.
Analysts said the market posted slight gain as mixed sentiments prevailed throughout the week after the quarterly earnings disclosure and some positive news in economic frontier.
The week witnessed five trading sessions as usual. Of them, three sessions closed marginally higher, while two sessions saw correction.
Weak-on-week, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 4.26 points or 0.09 percent to close at 4,677.14 points.
The two other indices also finished marginally higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 0.39 points or 0.02 percent to settle at 1,758.16 points.
The DSE Shariah Index rose 4.42 points or 0.40 percent to close at 1,122.48 points.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended marginally higher with its Selective Categories Index, CSCX, advancing 28.53 points or 0.33 percent to end at 8,752.99 points.
The total turnover for the week stood at BDT 29.47 billion, which was nearly 35 percent higher than the previous week’s BDT 21.84 billion.
The daily turnover averaged at BDT 5.89 billion, registering an increase of 35 percent over the previous week’s average of BDT 4.37 billion.
LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, said, “The result of US election has usually no major bearing on the performance of the Bangladesh stock market due to having a largely insulated economy. Nothing was different this time around”.
“The market held up strongly ending the last trading session in green despite Trump’s victory sparked panic on global markets earlier,” said the stockbroker.
“Mixed sentiments prevailed throughout the week after the quarterly earnings disclosure and some positive news in economic frontier,” said the stockbroker.
IDLC Investments, a merchant bank, said, “Almost all the companies disclosed their corporate declaration and year-end earnings for the June, 2016 while Q1 earnings for the year FY 2017 became due, which has been creating expectation among the investors”.
“This was termed by the increased level of activities in recent period. As a consequence, average daily turnover improved significantly by 35 per cent to Tk 5.90 billion,” said the merchant bank.
The losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 328 issues traded, 173 closed lower, 134 closed higher and 21 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor last the week.
Confidence Cement dominated the week’s turnover chart with 12.93 million shares worth BDT 1.54 billion changing hands, followed by Doreen Power, Shasha Denims, Square Pharmaceuticals and Apex Footwear.
Sahsha Denims was the week’s best performer, posting a 31.41 percent rise, while Rahim Textile was the worst loser, slumping by 27.42 percent.
BBN/AD/SR