Retailers trade at Dhaka Stock Exchange office. BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh’s stocks extended the gaining streak for three consecutive weeks that ended on Thursday as investors were active on large-cap shares before national budget.
Stocks keep gaining on budgetary hopes as the national budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2019-20 unveiled on Thursday, market operators said.
The Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed some incentives for stock investors in the budget including increasing the tax-free dividend income up to BDT 50,000, from existing BDT 25,000.
The Finance Minister also proposed that the double taxation on dividend from listed companies will also be removed.
“This decision may encourage more small investors to invest in capital market,” an expert explained.
The week saw five trading days as usual. Of them, four sessions closed higher while one saw mild correction.
Week-on-week, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up by 96.56 points or 1.80 per cent to settle the week at 5,474.
They also said such gain in market indices was backed by considerable gain in large-cap stocks from major sectors like food, engineering pharmaceuticals.
Two other indices also ended higher. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, advanced 29.70 points to finish at 1,918 and the DSE Shariah Index rose 29.80 points to close at 1,244.
The total turnover stood at BDT 24.63 billion last week which was BDT 18.41 billion in the week before.
The daily turnover averaged BDT 4.92 billion, registering an increase of 34 per cent over the previous week’s average of BDT 3.68 billion.
Sheltech Brokerage said index gained substantially last week amid investors’ optimism about fiscal year (FY) 2019-20 budget.
According to International Leasing Securities, buoyancy in large-cap sectors like insurance, food, engineering, power, pharma, telecom and non-bank financial institutions helped the prime index to end higher.
The market maintained the upward trend after the Eid vacation, particularly from the statement of finance minister of keeping ‘something’ for the stock investors in the national budget, they added.
Most of the major sectors posted gain with food sector saw the highest gain of 5.10 per cent, followed by engineering with 3.30 per cent, pharmaceuticals 2.0 per cent, power 1.90 per cent, telecom 1.80 per cent and financial institutions 1.60 per cent.
Only banking sector saw 0.10 per cent correction.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also rose 2.02 per cent to BDT 4,021 billion on Thursday, from BDT 3,941 billion in the week before.
Gainers outnumbered the losers, as out of 353 issues traded, 260 closed higher, 70 ended lower and 23 issues remained unchanged on the DSE floor.
United Power dominated the turnover chart, with 2.67 million shares worth BDT 968 million changing hands. The company accounted for 3.93 per cent of the week’s total turnover.
The other turnover leaders were BBS Cables, JMI Syringes, National Life Insurance and Eastern Housing.
Global Insurance Company was the week’s best performer, posting a gain of 31.31 per cent while Mercantile Bank was the worst loser, losing 13.89 per cent.
A new issue – Silco Pharmaceuticals made its share trading debut on Thursday. The new comer’s share price soared 151 per cent to close at BDT 25.10 on debut trading, from issue price of 10 each.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also ended higher, with its CSE All Share Price Index — CASPI – soaring 389 points to settle at 16,764 points and the Selective Categories Index — CSCX –rising 241 to finish at 10,157.
BBN/SSR/AD
