Stocks inch up as margin relaxation ease panic
The regulatory move helped ease investor panic, said EBL Securities in its daily market commentary
Dhaka and Chattogram stocks slightly inched up on Monday following the regulatory announcement to relax requirements for margin loans for category-changing stocks.
The regulatory move helped ease investors' panic, said EBL Securities in its daily market commentary.
Meanwhile, the falling market dragged down the price of many stocks which attracted some bargain hunters to bag some of their preferred scrips cheaper with a hope for some capital gains at least.
Stockbrokers said, also, the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh's announcement to issue Tk1,000 crore Sukuk and use most of the planned funds to invest in the capital market helped reduce investors' panic regarding the market direction.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went up 39.34 points or 0.59% to settle at 6,669 at the end of Monday's session.
A sharp downturn over 13 sessions up to Sunday had pushed the DSEX below its recent lows and on Monday the index was trying to recover from a 19-week low level.
However, a lack of sufficient buying enthusiasm, amid the trend followers' preference to wait and see, resulted in a decline in the daily turnover which contracted 15.87% to Tk745 crore on Monday.
Some investors were trying to rebalance their portfolios over the past two weeks by buying higher potential stocks and selling inferior stocks to pay the price.
On the sectoral front, miscellaneous, general insurance and pharmaceuticals contributed most to the daily turnover in the DSE.
Unlike the previous day, most of the sectors gained on Monday, out of which miscellaneous, ceramic and IT were at the top of the sectoral return table. On the other hand, jute, cement, and general insurance faced price correction.
Out of the 378 issues traded on the DSE, 196 advanced, 142 declined, and 40 remained unchanged.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also ended the day in the green terrain.
Following the 1.3% drop on Sunday, CSCX, the broad index of the port city bourse, gained 0.8% on Monday.
Turnover declined below Tk44 crore on Monday from more than Tk58 crore the previous day.
The stock market had doubled in the 15 months up to September this year and the DSEX shot to 7,410 points in mid-October.
Since then the market has been in correction.
