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Stocks extended the gaining streak for the fourth straight session on Sunday despite ongoing countrywide lockdown.
The market witnessed high volatility in the first half of the day’s session as some investors opted for booking profit on stocks which saw a price surge in the past three trading days. But later half went up steadily.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 21.23 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 5,331 over the previous session.
DSEX added more than 166 points in the past four consecutive sessions.
The presence of investors on the trading floor remained very thin due to the strict lockdown and reduced trading hours.
Most investors executed their trading online or through a mobile app, a DSE official said.
The prime bourse and brokerage houses also encouraged investors to conduct share trading using virtual platforms amid the pandemic.
Market operators said lucrative price levels of many stocks coupled with lowered the circuit breaker limit to 2.0 per cent from the existing 10 per cent for 66 companies encouraged investors to take positions despite lockdown.
The investors, mostly institutional ones, are taking advantage of low-priced securities of some large-cap issues, which helped the market to stay afloat, said a merchant banker.
Two other indices also closed higher with the DSE30 Index, comprising blue chips, advanced 13.43 points to finish at 2,040 and the DSE Shariah Index (DSES) gained 2.46 points to close at 1,211.
Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, also rose to Tk 6.02 billion, which was 8.27 per cent higher than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 5.56 billion.
Losers, however, took a modest lead over the gainers, as out of 348 issues traded, 165 declined, 103 advanced and 80 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Beximco - the flagship company of Beximco Group- was the most- traded stock with shares worth about Tk 1.11 changing hands, followed by BD Finance (Tk 415 million), BATBC (Tk 394 million), LankaBangla Finance (Tk 392 million) and Robi (Tk 236 million).
Prime Insurance was the day’s top gainer, posting a 10 per cent gain while Rahima Food Corporation was the worst loser, losing 4.52 per cent.
A total number of 114,812 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with a trading volume of 166.76 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market cap of DSE also rose to Tk 4,632 billion on Sunday, up from Tk 4,627 billion in the previous session.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended marginally higher with the CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –gaining 34 points to settle at 15,413 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX advancing 20 points to close at 9,297.
Of the issues traded, 95 declined, 78 advanced and 36 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city’s bourse traded 7.43 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value of Tk 217 million.