Dhaka stocks gain as clouds over nat'l polls clearing fast

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FE Report
Dhaka stocks gained marginally Tuesday with an increase in the turnover as the uncertainty centring on the national polls is almost over.
The power and energy issues continued to shine, because the political parties in their election manifestos pledged to address the problems in the power sector.
Trading, however, at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) saw a negative trend in the very first hour. The benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN) commencing with a loss of 8.38 points rose by 13.49 points to end at 2598.11.
The investors, who were a bit relaxed that the uncertainty over the national election was almost over, took preparation for getting healthy return after the election, analysts and market operators said. However, they were not yet sure about sustainability of the gain.
The gainers took a strong lead over the losers. Out of 236 issues traded, 150 gained, 77 declined and nine remained unchanged. The day's total turnover increased to Tk 2.43 billion against the previous day's Tk 2.04 billion.
'The price movements in the last four days indicate that the market is heading for stabilisation,' Yawer Sayeed, a capital market expert, said adding that the investors shaken by the protracted bearish spell began to feel comfortable speculating that the uncertainty over the polls, only five days away, almost ended.
However, he sounded unsure about sustainability of the market. 'The full confidence of the investors will be restored after formation of the next elected government,' Sayeed added.
A broker said the institutional investors who remained inactive due to the year-end loan adjustment are taking preparation to inject their funds, signaling better days ahead.
Apart from the DGEN, the two other market barometers -- All Shares Price Index (DSI) and DSE20 (DS20) blue chip index - rose 13.38 points and 13.38 points to close at 2155.59 and 2164.91 respectively.
The market capitalisation also rose to Tk 990.55 billion on the day from Tk 985.90 billion of Monday.
The share price of the Summit Power gained 5.28 per cent to close at Tk 826.25 making it the day's top turnover leader with shares worth Tk 268.90 million traded on the day.
Beximco Pharma, Shinepukur Ceramics Limited, Titas Gas, Beximco Limited, Uttara Bank, ACI Formulations Limited, National Bank Limited (NBL), Lanka Bangla Finance and Lafarge Surma Cement were the day's next other turnover leaders.
Of the top ten gainers, seven were from among the worst performing Z-category companies.
The stock price of the Fine Foods, a Z-category issue, posted the biggest gain of 18.65 per cent to end at Tk 15.90.
The day's other top gainers were Lexco, Rupali Bank, AMCL (Pran), Dulamia Cotton, Eastern Lubricant, Gachihata Aquaculture, Quasem Silk, Bengal Fine and Meghna Condensed Milk.
Stylecraft Limited, Monno Jutex, Apex Spinning, Bangas, Fareast Life Insurance, Popular Life Insurance, Renwick Jajneswar, Saiham Textile, City Bank and Dhaka Fisheries were the top losers on the day.