Stocks ended higher in the outgoing week, snapping a four-week losing streak, as the buoyant investors showed their buying interest on lucrative issues.
The market featured four trading days as the market remained closed Thursday due to the birth day of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Of them the first session saw sharp rise while the last three closed flat.
Week on week, DSEX, the core index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 97.44 points or 0.42 per cent to settle at 6,765, after losing 418 points in the past four consecutive weeks.
Market analysts said the stocks witnessed a big jump in the first session of the week thanks to the securities regulator's steps to reduce the lower limit of circuit-breakers to 2.0 per cent to curb free-fall of stocks, helping the market close higher.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) lowered the circuit breaker limit to 2.0 per cent from 10 per cent to stop free-fall of stocks amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
Regulatory steps to stop the recent tumble of stocks led to a buy pressure in the market, particularly in the first session of the week, said a merchant banker.
"The regulatory intervention provided much-needed relief, pushing the core index close higher," he said.
The regulatory move also encouraged banks which have invested below the 25 per cent threshold, to increase stock market exposure and form special funds for investing in the capital market, he said.
However, global price instabilities due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict remains a concern over the future macroeconomic scenario of Bangladesh, he added.
The market started the week strongly due to the lowered circuit breaker limit, but the market became stagnant later in the week owing to investors lack of positive expectations and profit booking tendency, according to EBL Securities.
This week, the investors were mostly active in the textile sector, which captured 16 per cent of the week's total turnover, followed by pharma 11.6 per cent and IT 11.3 per cent.
Two other DSE indices also ended higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, gained 33.39 points to finish at 2,458 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) rose 18.91 points to close at 1,454.
The week's total turnover stood at Tk 38.86 billion on the prime bourse which was Tk 39.72 billion in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged out at Tk 9.71 billion on the country's premier bourse, which was 22.31 per cent higher than the previous week's average of Tk 7.94 billion.
Market capitalisation of the DSE also rose 1.06 per cent to Tk 5,407 billion on Wednesday, from Tk 5,351 billion in the week before.
Major sectors posted gains with engineering generating the highest return of 2.8 per cent, followed by cement with 2.5 per cent, food 2.4 per cent, banking 1.7 per cent, financial institutions 1.70 per cent, power 1.4 per cent and telecom 0.50 per cent.
General insurance sector suffered a 3.40 per cent loss after the recent price surge.
Of the 386 issues traded, 259 advanced, 103 declined and 24 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco was the most traded stock with shares worth Tk 2.96 billion changing hands, followed by BDCOM Online (Tk 1.18 billion), Dragon Sweater (Tk 880 million), Agni Systems (Tk 760 million) and Orion Pharma (Tk 720 million).
BDCOM Online was the top gainer for the second consecutive week, posting a 31.20 per cent gain, while Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills was the worst loser, shedding 7.42 per cent.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also rebounded, with the CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) gaining 260 points to settle at 19,821 while it's Selective Categories Index (CSCX) rising 153 points to close the week at 11,890.
Of the issues traded, 234 advanced, 89 declined and 17 remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.
The port-city bourse traded 50.04 million shares and mutual fund units with turnover value of Tk 1.21 billion.
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