Dhaka stocks rebound on buying spree

SEC holds meeting with bourses merchant banks
Dhaka stocks rebounded on Tuesday mainly owing to institutional buying after the SEC’s market-review meeting with merchant banks and stock exchanges, said market operators.
The general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange gained 76.34 points, or 2.94 per cent, to close at 2672.65, while its blue chips index, DSE20, advanced by 65.53 points, or 3.09 per cent, to finish at 2183.54.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, stock market regulatory body, held the meeting in the SEC conference room a day after a group of retail investors, frustrated with the continuous fall in share prices, staged demonstration in front of the DSE building.
Before the Tuesday’s rise, the market had dropped for the straight fourth trading day. The market had remained bearish for couple of weeks, said the operators.
DSE stockbrokers said institutional buying pushed the share prices up across the board on Tuesday. The SEC’s meeting also gave a positive signal to the market, they said.
‘In today’s (Tuesday’s) meeting, we have discussed the present market situation,’ the SEC executive director, Farhad Ahmed, told reporters.
He said investors should not be panicky with the downward trend at the market.
‘SEC chairman has communicated with the finance minister, who showed his willingness to visit the commission soon,’ he said.
Representative of the leading merchant banks and stock exchanges were present in the meeting.
Market analysts said the market had been dull in the recent weeks as institutional investors preferred a ‘wait-and-see’ policy while retail investors, dejected by the recent dullness at the market, scurried to sell off their holdings.
Of the total 249 issues traded on Tuesday, 232 advanced, 14 declined and three remained unchanged.
Turnover at the DSE increased to Tk 233.72 crore from the Monday’s Tk 321.40 crore.
Beximco topped the turnover leaders with a total transaction of Tk 21.54 crore.
Shinepukur Ceramics, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Summit Power, Titas Gas, Jamuna Oil, Uttara Bank, Grameen Two Mutual Fund, Summit Alliance Port and ACI Formulations were the rest of the top 10 turnover leaders on the day.
Chittagong stocks also gained sharply on Tuesday.
The selective categories index at the Chittagong Stock Exchange gained 151.34 points, or 2.90 per cent, to close at 5373.88, while its blue chips index, CSE30, advanced by 217.77 points, or 3.20 per cent, to finish at 7027.05.
Of the total 142 issues traded on the CSE floor, 129 posted gains, 10 dropped and three remained unchanged.
Turnover at the CSE, however, dropped to Tk 37.29 crore from the Monday’s Tk 46.29 crore.