Stocks recover from single-day slump

Stocks in Bangladesh mostly bounced back yesterday after falling the day before as investors made fresh bets on lucrative scrips in anticipation of the earnings disclosures of listed corporates for the July-September period this year.

Investors expressed optimism about the return of good governance as the interim government is implementing a slew of measures to reform the overall financial sector, especially the share market.

The DSEX, the main index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), rose by 0.44 percent from the previous day to close at 5,760 points.

Similarly, the DSES index, which represents the performance of Shariah-based companies, edged up by 0.82 percent from the day prior to 1,273 points, marking a rising trend for two successive days.

Likewise, the DS30, an index that reflects the performance of blue-chip stocks, grew by about 0.10 percent from the day before to reach 2,096 points.

However, the DSE's daily turnover, which measures the total value of shares traded, decreased by 0.20 percent to Tk 674 crore compared to the previous trading session.

The banking sector dominated the turnover chart, accounting for 25.08 percent of the day's total.

Block trades, meaning high-volume securities transactions that are privately negotiated and executed outside of the open market, contributed 7.2 percent of the overall market turnover.

BRAC Bank Limited was the most traded share, registering turnover of about Tk 44.2 crore.

Of the issues traded at the country's premier bourse, the prices of 112 scrips rose while that of 237 others closed lower and 49 did not witness any fluctuation.

Sector-wise, jute, bank and non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) were the top three sectors to close on a positive note.

Meanwhile, information technology, life insurance and services, and real estate became the top three sectors to close in the negative, according to a market update by UCB Stock Brokerage.

Shares of large-cap sectors, which comprise companies with market capitalisation of more than $10 billion, posted mixed performances.

The banking sector booked the highest gain of 2.18 percent followed by the NBFI and telecommunication sectors, which added 1.07 percent and 0.94 percent respectively.

The pharmaceuticals, food and allied, fuel and power, and engineering sectors logged losses of 0.26 percent, 0.37 percent, 1.08 percent and 1.19 percent respectively.

The situation was different at the Chittagong Stock Exchange as the CASPI, the key index of the port city bourse, dropped by 0.01 percent from the day prior to settle at 16,186 points.