BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s stocks ended higher on Sunday, the first session after Eid vacation, as investors showed their buying appetite on large-cap stocks.
Trading and official activities on the bourses remained closed from May 31 to June 08 on the occasion of the Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of the Muslims, including weekly and special holidays.
The presence of investors was thin in the brokerage houses as many investors are yet to return in Dhaka. However, many of them executed trade through phone.
Stocks kept gaining amid investors’ expectations that the upcoming budget would extend incentives to the capital market, market operators said.
Finance Minister A H M Mustafa Kamal is set to unveil place the national budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2019-20 on Thursday next.
The market opened on upbeat note and the positive trend sustained until end of the session amid modest volatility.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), crossed the 5,400-mark after two months to settle at 5,402, gaining 25.22 points or 0.46 per cent over the previous session.
Two other indices also closed higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 12.44 points to finish at 1,889 and the DSE Shariah Index gained 5.81 points to close at 1,220.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, however, fell to BDT 3.04 billion, which was 28 per cent lower than the previous session’s turnover of BDT 4.25 billion.
The investors continued their buying spree in anticipation of market-friendly national budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2019-2020 to be unveiled end of the week, they added.
A total number of 86,781 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 90.83 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE rose BDT Tk 3,967 billion on Sunday, from BDT 3,941 billion in the previous session.
Food & allied posted the highest gain of 3.46 per cent, followed by power with 1.45 per cent, non-bank financial institutions 1.04 per cent.
Telecommunication, engineering, pharmaceuticals and banking sectors also gained 0.45 per cent, 0.41 per cent, 0.10 per cent and 0.03 per cent respectively.
The gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 345 issues traded, 171 advanced, 125 declined and 49 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
National Life Insurance topped the turnover chart with 788,355 shares worth BDT 188 million changing hands.
The other turnover leaders were United Power, Eastern Housing, Eastern Cables and New Line Clothings.
Eastern Housing was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.83 per cent while Mercantile Bank was the worst loser, losing 12.22 per cent following its price adjustment after record date.
On the other hand, Chittagong Stock Exchange also ended higher with its CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –soaring 143 points to settle at 16,519 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –advancing 88 points to finish at 10,005.
The gainers beat losers, as 125 closed higher, 65 ended lower and 41 remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.
The port city bourse traded 5.38 million shares and mutual fund units worth BDT 415 million in turnover.
BBN/SSR/AD