Stocks pick up on election hopes

Fri, Dec 26th, 2008 4:11 pm BdST Dhaka, Dec 26 (bdnews24.com)�Stock exchanges of the country passed the last week on a positive note as investor confidence was boosted on hopes of a more stable market with the election just days away.

Market experts cited the end of uncertainty over the national polls as the reason behind the rise in confidence.

"Investors were mostly hesitant to bet money on fears of political instability as there were doubts about the general election," Abu Ahmed, an adviser of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told bdnews24.com.

Optimistic indicators for inflation and balance of trade also contributed to the rise in confidence, he added.

The benchmark DGEN or general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange surged 112.12 points, or 4.45 percent to 2,630.14 points while the DSI or all share price index jumped ended on 2,176.05 points, up by 92.06 points, or 4.42 percent.

Both the total and daily average turnover witnessed a 84.63 percent rise over the week. Total turnover on the DSE was Tk 9.87 billion from Tk 5.34 billion the previous week.

The daily average turnover jumped from Tk 1.33 billion to Tk 2.46 billion.

Of the traded 293 scrips on the DSE, 221 advanced, 27 declined and six held steady.

Chittagong Stock Exchange's selective categories index or CSCX finished up by 1.3 percent to 5,359.57 points. The all share price index or CASPI closed at 8,225.93 points, rising 1.19 points.

The port city bourse saw about 14.19 million shares worth Tk 1.62 billion traded against 7.53 million shares worth Tk 825 million the previous week.

Gainers outnumbered losers 103 to 46 of the 160 traded issues while 11 remained unchanged.

Total market capitalisation on the DSE marked a 3.41 percent rise to Tk 997.62 billion from Tk 964.75 billion a week ago.

Summit Power emerged as the turnover leader with just over 9.63 million trading volume of Tk 774.2 million accounting 7.84 percent of the week's total turnover.

The other turnover leaders were Beximco Pharma, ACI Formulations, Titas Gas, Beximco, Shinepukur Ceramics, Uttara Bank, ACI, National Bank and Grameen Mutual Fund One: Scheme Two.

Meanwhile Beximco topped the turnover leaders on the Chittagong Stock Exchange with 980,080 shares changing hands worth Tk 163 million.

Banks topped investors' favorable list, which is a common phenomenon of the market at this time of the year as dividend time approaches. Non-bank financial institutions and insurers followed.

Meanwhile, power and energy shares were almost steady with slight increase in prices following the previous week's rises as major political parties focused on the sector's development in their electoral promises.

Mutual fund and pharmaceuticals also witnessed gains.