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Banking sector issues soar

Bourses extend trading hours to 1:30pm


FE REPORT | May 06, 2021 00:00:00


Stocks extended the winning streak for the second straight session on Wednesday as investors mostly focused on banking and non-bank financial institution issues.

Meanwhile, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) have extended the trading time by an hour in line with the banking hours effective from today (Thursday).

Trading on the DSE and CSE will start at 10:00 am as usual and continue until 1:30 pm, the bourses said in separate statements.

The market jumped at openand the key index of the major bourse crossed the 5,600-mark within the first hour of trading, but lost some points before ending higher.

DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 53.34 points or 0.96 per cent to close at 5,588.

The core index added 77 points in the two consecutive sessions.

Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, stood at Tk 13.98 billion on the country's premier bourse, in a further decline by 3.10 per cent over previous day's tally of Tk 13.56 billion.

Market operators said the shining performance of banking, non-bank financial institutions and mutual fund sector stocks kept the market afloat.

The banking sector generated a 3.0 per cent gain after a long time as out of 31 listed banks, 26 gained, two declined and two remained unchanged.

The NBFI sector also jumped 3.70 per cent as prices of 20 NBFIs out of 23, closed higher. Only one closed in the red while two remained unchanged.

Stocks sparked a rally based on investors' high optimism as recent market momentum showed increased confidence, commented EBL Securities.

The stockbroker noted that the rally was aggravated by buoyancy in the heavyweight banking and non-banking financial institutions sectors based on an increased earning expectation.

"The capital market has turned into a lucrative investment platform to investors because of growing confidence and relentless market development regulatory measures," said the stockbroker.

According to International Leasing Securities, the investors took position on major sector stocks amid the positive movement of macro-economic indicators and the regulatory move to restore confidence of the investors in the market.

The stockbroker noted that the ongoing year-end dividend declarations and better than expected quarterly earnings disclosures by the companies tempted the investors to remain active on the trading floor.

Buoyancy in mutual fund, banking and financial institutions sectors led the benchmark index to close in green despite some sell pressure in general insurance, telecom and pharma sectors.

Among other sectors, cement, power and food also gained 1.10 per cent, 0.40 per cent and 0.10 per cent respectively.

The insurance stocks saw marginal correction as the stocks were traded at a very high level.

General insurance sector, which showed shining performance in the past few weeks, suffered 3.40 per cent losses, followed by telecommunication with 0.70 per cent and pharmaceuticals 0.40 per cent.

Gainers took a strong lead over the losers, as out of 357 issues traded, 203 advanced, 100 declined and 54 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

Beximco - the flagship company of Beximco Group- continued to dominate the turnover chart with shares worth about Tk 1.48 billion changing hands, followed by LankaBangla Finance (Tk 552 million), National Feed Mills (Tk 389 million), Robi (Tk 341 million) and Pioneer Insurance (Tk 321 million).

A total number of 199,679 trades were executed in the day's trading session with a trading volume of 453.31 million shares and mutual fund units.

The market-cap of DSE also rose to Tk 4,755 billion on Wednesday, up from Tk 4,733 billion in the previous session.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended higher with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI -soaring 153 points to settle at 16,145 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX rising 93 points to close at 9,738.

Of the issues traded, 159 advanced, 84 declined and 28 remained unchanged on the CSE.

The port city's bourse traded 18.92 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 439 million.

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