Dhaka stocks soar to more than five-month high

The Dhaka bourse on Tuesday witnessed a four-month-high turnover, riding on investors' enthusiasm over four major sectors, including pharmaceuticals & chemicals.
The broad index also extended its gaining streak for the fifth straight day and secured the highest position in five and a half months.
The DSEX, broad index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), gained 64 points in the last five sessions and closed at 6331 points on Tuesday. The premier bourse featured a turnover of Tk 8 billion, the highest after September 20 last year.
The market opened the day's session with a positive note and continued an upward trend until the day's closure, with limited ups and downs.
At the end of the session, the DSEX gained 13.53 points.
According to a market review by EBL Securities, the broad index extended its gaining streak as buyers' dominance continued across the trading floor, driven by optimism about a gradual improvement of the prevailing economic situation.
Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries having weak fundamentals, however, played a major role in driving up the broad index on Tuesday.
The good companies that also played a significant role in pulling up the index are Square Pharmaceuticals, Unique Hotel & Resorts, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Heidelberg Cement, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, and Mutual Trust Bank.
Of these companies, Square Pharmaceuticals and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation have recently come out of the floor.
Managing Director of Midway Securities Md. Ashequr Rahman considers the ongoing upward trend as 'very natural' as the uncertainties hanging over the national election is over.
"The economy will see vibrancy now and investors' participation will also increase in the market," Rahman said.
He said the continuation of market appreciation by junk stocks, such as Khan Brothers, along with blue chip stocks, such as Square Pharmaceuticals and LafargeHolcim Cement, was an 'anomaly'.
Those, who earlier gambled with the stock of Khan Brokers, are now taking advantage of the overall rise in investor participation, he added.
The company has continued its rally mainly because of speculations.
The price of Khan Brothers on Tuesday advanced 7.55 per cent to Tk 148.20 per share.
Another junk stock, Shyampur Sugar Mills experienced the highest appreciation of 9.96 per cent to Tk 206.40 on Tuesday.
Apart from the two failed companies, Aziz Pipes and Beach Hatchery were also on the list of top 20 gainers.
The pharmaceuticals & chemicals topped the sectors on Tuesday as a contributor to the trading volume.
It accounted for 15.2 per cent of the market turnover, followed by General Insurance 12 per cent, engineering 9.1 per cent, and travel & leisure 7.6 per cent.
Of the pharma sector companies, Orion Infusion recorded the second highest turnover -- Tk 450 million -- followed by Advent Pharma 175 million and Navana Pharmaceuticals Tk 108 million.
CASPI, benchmark index of the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), gained 39 points to close at 18738. Of the 205 issues traded, 75 advanced, 45 declined and 85 were unchanged. The port city bourse posted a turnover of Tk 93.93 million on Tuesday.
Status of blue chip stocks
A total of 16 blue chip companies out of 30 are yet to come out of the floor on the DSE.
The companies include British American Tobacco Bangladesh Company, Grameenphone, Renata, BEXIMCO, and BRAC Bank.
Some of the remaining 14 companies have recently climbed up the floor prices.
For example, Uttara Bank went above the floor price on December 17, closing at Tk 22.50 each share.
The stock had exhibited swings on a small scale and closed at Tk 23.50 on Tuesday.
Eastern Bank remained stuck at the floor price of Tk 29.40 on January 9. It experienced price appreciation the following day and closed at Tk 29.80 on Tuesday.
Square Pharmaceuticals went up the floor on December 26, and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation on January 11.
The companies that have been showing price movements in the last six months are LafargeHolcim Bangladesh, Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh, Olympic Industries, Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa, and Unique Hotel & Resort.
The price gains of these companies helped the index close higher for their large market capitalisation.

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