Dhaka stocks edge higher amid dull trading

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FE Report
Dhaka stocks edged higher amid dull trading in the week that ended Thursday after heavy losses in the previous two straight weeks.
The benchmark DSE General Index gained 3.46 per cent or 85.18 points, to close at 2544.66 on low turnover posting a fall of 18.32 per cent during the week.
Trading at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the prime bourse, will resume on December 14 after the public holidays on the occasion of the Eid-ul-Azha to be celebrated on December 9 and the weekend holidays.
A set of measures taken by the merchant banks on the call of the securities regulator helped the market get back its pulse in the week, stockbrokers said adding that the investors were hopeful over the waning political uncertainty after two major political parties already ensured their participation in the national election to be held on December 29.
Two other market barometers -the All Shares Price Index (DSI) and the DSE-20 blue chip index-rose 68.37 points and 30.76 points to close at 2103.79 and 2131.67 respectively.
The gainers took a strong lead over the losers. Out of 293 issues traded, 188 advanced, 55 declined, eight remained unchanged and 42 were not traded in the week.
"The efforts put over the couple of weeks to reverse the continuous slump and the merchant bankers' consent to abstain from 'forced-sale' and 'trigger sale' before the Eid, helped restore confidence of the investors," said a merchant banker.
The market sentiment showed a sign of improvement during the week, he added.
However, the protracted sluggish trend has dwindled most of the investors' purchasing capacity, he said adding that the merchant bankers will be able to put their total efforts after December, the month of book-closure.
The netting facility, temporarily discouraged by the merchant banks, was one of the factors behind the lower turnover, a stockbroker said.
The daily average turnover, however, in the week declined to Tk 1.84 billion against the previous week's Tk 2.26 billion. The DSE market capitalisation increased to Tk 971.60 billion from Tk 947.95 billion of the previous week.
ACI Formulations Limited was the top turnover leader with shares worth Tk 1.06 billion traded and accounted for about 11.57 per cent of the week's total market turnover worth Tk 9.20 billion at the prime bourse.
Beximco Pharma, Titas Gas, Beximco Limited, Uttara Bank, ACI Limited, Shinepukur Ceramics Limited, NBL, Grameen One Scheme Two and Islami Bank were the next other turnover leaders.
In the week, the top ten gainers were Beximco Limited, ACI Formulations Limited, Renwick Jajneswar, Shinepukur Ceramics Limited, Bangladesh Online, Beximco Pharma, Bextex Limited, Summit Alliance Port Limited and Dhaka Fisheries.
The top ten losers were Islami Bank, Arbee Textile, Metro Spinning, Aftab Automobiles, Qasem Textile, Al-Amin Chemicals, DESCO, Bengal Fine Ceramics, National Polymer and BD Dyeing.
A-category issues accounted for 69.09 per cent of the total turnover in value during the week. B-category issues accounted for 0.81 per cent, N-category 27.85 per cent and Z-category 2.52 per cent.