Retailers trade at Dhaka Stock Exchange office. BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s stocks returned to higher last week that ended on Thursday, after remaining down in the past two-week, as investors showed their buying appetite on large-cap stocks.
Analysts said the market ended higher as investors are taking position in fundamentally strong large-cap stocks recently which has aided in such influx of indices.
Positive earnings disclosure some of listed companies and investors’ tension over the upcoming monetary policy statement (MPS) eased somewhat which helped the market returned to higher.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) is scheduled to unveil the monetary policy statement (MPS) for the January-June period of the current fiscal year on January 29.
The week featured five trading sessions as usual. Of them, four sessions closed green while one faced mild correction.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 93.57 points or 1.53 percent to settle at 6,216.
The two other indices also ended higher. The DSE 30 Index comprising blue chips soared 63.57 points or 2.84 percent to settle at 2,305.
The DSE Shariah Index (DSES) also rose 27.52 points or 1.96 percent to close at 1,431.
The port city bourse Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also backed higher with CSE All Share Price Index -- (CAPSI) – soaring 293 points or 1.55 percent to finish at 19,161.
The Selective Categories Index of the port city bourse -- CSCX, also soared 180 points or 2.03 percent to end at 11,571.
“The government’s plans to slash tax rate, cooling down of private sector credit growth in the month of December coupled with satisfactory earnings disclosure some of the listed companies encouraged investors to the market,” commented EBL Securities, a stockbroker, in its weekly analysis.
Country’s private sector credit growth squeezed in December after a rising trend in last two consecutive months as most banks tried to comply with advance-deposit ratio (ADR) rules properly.
The growth in credit flow to private sector came down to 18.13 percent in December 2017 on a year-on-year basis from 19.06 percent a month before, according to the central bank latest statistics.
Trading activities also improved as daily turnover averaged BDT 4.49 billion, which was nearly 20 percent higher than the previous week’s average of BDT 3.75 billion.
The gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 338 issues traded, 160 closed higher, 146 lower and 32 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Square Pharmaceuticals topped the week’s turnover chart for the second week in a row with 5.58 million shares worth BDT 1.84 million changing hands, closely followed by Grameenphone, IFAD Autos, Beximco Pharma and Paramount Textile.
Usmania Glass Sheet Factory was the week’s top gainer, posting a gain of 23.37 percent while Oimex Electrode was the week’s worst loser, slumping by 7.94 percent.
BBN/SSR/SR