Stocks jump riding on engineering, pharma and textile

Equity indices of the stock exchanges jumped on Monday as share prices of major sectors, including engineering, pharmaceutical and textile, soared.

Bank and insurance sectors, however, lost their share prices as some investors sold their shares to book quick profits. But, most companies of the two sectors have reported stellar growth in earnings in their first-half financial statements. 

DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), rose by 0.87% to 6,481 points, which happened to be the highest mark since its inception in 2013.

The DSE turnover also jumped by 44% to Tk2,187 crore compared to the figures in the previous trading day.

At the end of the Monday trading session, share prices of 232 companies advanced, while those of 118 declined and those of 25 remained unchanged at the DSE.

Beximco Limited grabbed the top position on the DSE turnover chart, with trade worth Tk58.94 crore, followed by Saif Powertec and Orion Pharma.

Meanwhile, the port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange's benchmark index CASPI gained 1.19% to reach 18,858.

The EBL Securities said in its daily market commentary, the continuation of expansionary monetary policy has turned investors positive on the bourse. Moreover, the reopening of export-oriented factories has also stimulated investors' buoyancy as they expect that the economy will see normalcy riding on vaccine rollout in the country.

Earlier, the Bangladesh Bank asked banks to report on the usage of stimulus loans by companies within five days.

The central bank claimed that companies are investing stimulus funds in other sectors such as land and share market. But the funds were given to the companies to use them as their working capital.

However, people related to share markers strongly denied the claim made by the central bank. They said the recent share market boom was not dependent on stimulus packages. 

S Alam Cold Rolled Steels topped the gainer list with a 10% increase, followed by Metro Spinning and Index Agro, while Prime Insurance was the worst performer, losing 9.89% of prices, followed by Zeal Bangla Sugar and Phoenix Finance.