Dhaka stocks gained on Sunday with turnover of the bourse hitting three-month high as investors remained optimistic amid eased political tension and the government’s move in implementing compensation scheme for the small-scale investors.
DSEX, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, gained 2.65 per cent, or 99.84 points, to close at 3,873.62 points.
The previous benchmark general index of the bourse, DGEN, crossed
the 4,000-point mark
after 52 sessions by gaining 2.45 per cent, or 97.92 points, to close at 4,079.97 points.
Turnover of the bourse hit a three-month high at Tk 538.57 crore on Sunday from the previous day’s Tk 396.18 crore as institutional investors returned to the trading floor.
The turnover of the bourse was decreasing rapidly in recent times following the inactivity of the large-scale and institutional investors which made retailers nervous.
The previous highest turnover of the DSE was Tk 433.99 crore on February 20.
The blue-chip index of the DSE, DS30, gained 2 per cent, or 27.69 points, to close at 1,410.77 points.
Market operators said the government’s move to refinance merchant banks and brokerage houses Tk 1,200 crore for implementing compensation scheme for the investors affected by 2010-11 stock market crash made the investors optimistic for the last two weeks.
They said the eased political unrest for the last two weeks also boosted investors’ confidence.
The finance ministry recently approved a proposal of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission to refinance the stock market operators for compensating the small-scale investors.
The National Board of Revenue was also looked positive about considering the waived interest by the institutions as tax free, according to news reports.
‘The investors seem positive about the market
and if the government implements the refinancing scheme for compensation, hopefully the market will remain upbeat,’ said a stockbroker.
He said the institutional investors retuned to the trading floor following the government’s move which also cheered the retail investors.
‘The increasing turnover indicates the institutional investors became active again,’ he said.
Market operators, however, said that it was still uncertain whether the market, which suffered huge
crashes in recent times, would continue to be on a positive path as worries over political tension remained ahead of the general elections likely to be held early 2014.
‘We saw such spell of uptrend in the market for few days in last two years after heavy crashes in 2010-2011. Many investors lost everything after injecting fresh investment in such uptrend as market ultimately fell heavily,’ said another stockbroker.
Of the 284 issues traded on Sunday, 235 advanced, 39 declined, and 10 remained unchanged.
Among the major sectors, non-bank financial institutions was the highest gainer, advancing by 5.26 per cent, power gained 2.59 per cent, telecommunications 2.51 per cent and bank gained 2.22 per cent on the day.
-With New Age input
