DSE Weekly Review
New DSE indices gain in 1st week
After a flat week, Dhaka stocks gained last week amid significant boost in turnover as the investors were hoping that the central bank would ease the monetary policy on political consideration.
DGEN, the benchmark general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, gained 1.51 per cent or 63 points, to close at 4,230.69 points. The DGEN ended flat by adding 0.63 points to the previous week after it had gained 34.074 points in the earlier one.
DSEX, the newly launched general index of the bourse that shows movements of share prices based on a free-float method, gained 80.40 points in its opening week while DS30, the newly introduced blue-chip index of the bourse that features movements of 30 best shares of the bourse, gained 28.26 points.
The average daily turnover of the bourse increased by 86.61 per cent to Tk 274 crore last week from the previous week’s Tk 146.83 crore.
Market operators said there were hopes among the investors that the Bangladesh Bank would ease the monetary policy on political consideration as it is the last year of the present Awami League-led government.
They said that the bank and other financial institutions were active on the trading floor last week and their strategy paid off at the end of the week as the BB on Thursday announced a monetary policy for the next six months of the current fiscal year, easing money supply.
‘There was a strong rumour that the BB would ease the monetary policy and some large investors banked on that rumour that dominated the market last week,’ said a stockbroker.
He said the rumour was fuelled by speculation that the BB might take decisions driven by public demands to back the government with the election round the corner.
‘Also, the overall economic condition last year was also not as bad as people had expected, which might have allowed the central bank to relax its grip slightly,’ he said.
The market operators also said that the newly launched indices of the bourse also perhaps made the investors positive about the market with a view that the market leaders were not totally indifferent to its prospects.
All the major sectors posted gains last week, led by non-bank financial institutions that gained 2.92 per cent, and pharmaceuticals that gained 1.88 per cent. Fuel and power gained 1.87 per cent while banks and telecommunications gained 1.85 per cent and 0.02 per cent respectively.
Among the 283 issues traded in the week, 200 advanced, 76 declined and seven remained unchanged.
United Airways topped the week’s turnover chart with shares worth Tk 101 crore changing hands.
-With New Age input
