DSE indices, turnover at four-month high

Stocks at the Dhaka and Chattogram bourses are in a bull run since the beginning of April and major indices almost recovered up to their heights at the beginning of the year.

The investors' increased enthusiasm and participation pushed the daily turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) above Tk2,000 crore after four months on Wednesday.

Analysts thanked the good news that the government would slash corporate tax for all the production-oriented companies by 250 basis points on top of the better than expected corporate performance of financial scrips.

If finalised, listed companies other than the banks, financial institutions, insurers, telecom operators and tobacco sellers would end up with 22.5% corporate tax instead of the existing rate of 25%.

Corporate tax reduction would yield more earnings per share, expect investors. 

"The rise in the core index was driven by the increase in the bank and NBFI (non-banking financial institution) stocks, as investors have regained their confidence in the ailing financial companies based on earnings surprises," brokerage firm EBL Securities wrote in their daily market commentary. 

DSEX, the broad-based index at the DSE, increased by 43.9 points or 0.75% on Wednesday to close at 5,873 – the highest in the last four months.

Turnover at the premier bourse increased by 22% to nearly Tk2,100 crore.

On the sectoral front, banks contributed a maximum 22.07% of the day's turnover, general insurance followed with 20.12% and miscellaneous with 11.63% turnover contribution at the DSE.

The IT with 4%, the banks with 2.9% and the non-bank financial institutions with 2.6% gain in their respective market capitalisation topped the green list.

On the other hand jute, services and engineering stocks suffered the biggest corrections, but not more than 2% shrink in market capitalisation.

Out of the 364 issues traded at the DSE, 132 advanced, 176 declined, and 56 remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, at the Chittagong Stock Exchange turnover increased to Tk127.6 crore, more than doubled from that in the previous session.