Dhaka stocks rise sharply

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FE Report
Dhaka stocks rose sharply Monday, finishing their sixth straight session of gains, pushed by the banks, non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) and insurance issues.
The DSE General Index (DGEN) - the benchmark index- finished at 2653.09 with a gain of 65.54 points. The All Shares Price Index (DSI) and DSE-20 comprising blue chip gained 54.42 points and 34.53 points to end at 2196.93 and 2066.61 respectively.
Banks and NBFIs sectors pulled the market up on the day, according to the research cell of the Equity Partners Ltd (EPL), an investment bank. All the top ten gainers were from the banks and none of the banks fell.
"The investors chased the banking stocks on speculation that the government might lower corporate tax, leading to improve corporate earnings," said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, professor of the finance department of the Dhaka University.
The finance minister in a recent meeting with the bankers hinted that corporate tax might be lowered for the banks.
"Another reason might be that the bank's interest rate cut on lending boosts liquidity," said Khan, also former DSE chief executive officer.
Out of 246 issues traded, 117 advanced, 122 declined and seven remained unchanged.
The turnover continued to increase to stand at Tk 5.43 billion against Tk 4.78 billion on Sunday while the market capitalisation was Tk 1.06 trillion.
Among the pharmaceutical companies, Square Pharma gained 0.2 per cent while Beximco Pharma lost 1.9 per cent. ACI lost 3.9 per cent while ACI Formulations lost 3.7 per cent. GlaxoSmithKline lost 1.1 per cent while Renata gained 0.7 per cent, said the EPL.

In the Fuel & Power sector, Titas Gas fell by 1.4 per cent, Power Grid lost 1.5 per cent while DESCO lost one per cent. Summit Power fell marginally by 0.2 per cent, it added.
Beximco was the top turnover leader with shares worth Tk 368.61 million traded. Other turnover leaders were AB Bank, Summit Power, Shinepukur Ceramics Ltd, Tits Gas, Southeast Bank, Uttara Bank, Beximco Pharma, ACI and NBL.
Share prices of the Social Investment Bank had the biggest gain of 19.96 per cent, followed by First Security Bank 19.92 per cent, IFIC Bank 14.17 per cent, City Bank 13.73 per cent, AB Bank 13.65 per cent, Jamuna Bank 13.17 per cent, Dutch-Bangla Bank 12.46 per cent and One Bank 12.29 per cent.
Padma Cement, Rahman Chemicals, Monospool Paper, Meghna Cement and Bangas were the top losers.