Stocks rise for second day in a row

Bangladesh’s stock market rose for a second straight day yesterday as investors cautiously bought lucrative blue-chip stocks, hoping that companies would soon report strong financial results.

According to LankaBangla Financial Portal, Islami Bank Bangladesh, Beacon Pharmaceuticals, Grameenphone, Olympic Industries, British American Tobacco Bangladesh, Heidelberg Chemicals Bangladesh, ACME Laboratory, Robi Axiata, Uttara Bank and Tamijul Textile Mills have attracted a significant number of investors.

Islami Bank Bangladesh is the only lender to report a double-digit growth of 25.19 per cent in its share price.

Meanwhile, shares of Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Orion Infusion, Bangladesh Submarine Cables, City Bank, United Commercial Bank, National Bank, Kohinoor Chemicals, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh and IFIC Bank suffered losses.

The DSEX, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) index, rose 17.57 points or 0.30 per cent from the previous day to close at 5,777.

Similarly, the DSES index, representing companies operating in accordance with Sharia principles, rose by 14.30 points, or 1.12 per cent, or 1,288.

Meanwhile, the DS30 blue-chip index rose 12.45 points, or 0.59 percent, to 2,109.

Of the 395 issues, 93 rose in price, while most of the remaining 262 closed in the red and 40 saw no price movement at all.

The turnover on the DSE, or the total value of shares traded on the day, rose 6.56 per cent to Tk 718 crore.

Grameenphone topped the turnover chart with Tk 60 crore, up 1.93 per cent, followed by BRAC Bank, Linde Bangladesh and IBN Sina.

Block trades, or transactions in high-value securities that are privately negotiated and concluded outside the open market, amounted to Tk 13.34 crore, or 1.9 per cent of the total daily turnover.

In its daily market report, brokerage firm BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage said sectors that account for the majority of market capitalisation (i.e. the total value of a company’s shares traded) posted mixed results.

The largest increase of 1.54 per cent was recorded by telecommunications, followed by food and related services (1.03 per cent), banking (0.09 per cent) and pharmaceuticals (0.07 per cent).

Meanwhile, the fuel and energy, engineering and non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) sectors recorded losses of 1.03 per cent, 1.06 per cent and 1.49 per cent, respectively.

However, according to the daily market update prepared by Shanta Securities, the travel and leisure, paper and printing, and financial institutions sectors ended the session in the red.

In terms of individual stocks, Hami Industries topped the list of gainers, followed by Dhaka Electric Supply Company, Fareast Finance & Investment, Desh Garments, Tosrifa Industries and Sunlife Insurance Company.

However, Standard Ceramic Industries was the biggest decliner, falling 3.76 percent.

Phoenix Finance and Investments, Sunlife Insurance Company, Tosrifa Industries, Apex Spinning & Knitting Mills and Rahim Textile Mills also failed to register growth.