Stocks close on a high note, driven by renewed investor optimism

Dhaka stocks closed higher today (3 December) as renewed investor optimism over Investment Corporation of Bangladesh's (ICB) sovereign-guaranteed low-interest loan boosted market sentiment.

The DSEX, the broad-based index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), rose by 0.46% to close at 5,226, supported by selective buying from bargain hunters looking to capitalise on attractive stock prices.

Daily turnover also inched up by 2.4%, reaching Tk512 crore for the day. Out of the 397 issues traded, 199 advanced, 120 declined and 78 remained unchanged.

Yesterday's session opened on a strong note, in continuation to the previous session's moderate optimism. After some interim hiccups in the first half of trading, buying momentum picked up as investors anticipated increased activity in blue-chip stocks, counting on the Tk3,000 crore central bank loan to ICB.

"This renewed activity was further fueled by media reports highlighting the central bank revising down the interest rate of the much-needed Tk3,000 crore sovereign-guaranteed loan to ICB, which lifted investor sentiment and added momentum to the trading floor," EBL Securities wrote in its daily market commentary after the closing bell yesterday.

"The indices maintained their position on the upbeat trajectory for most of today's session, driven by a broad-based market momentum supported by price appreciation across the majority of stocks," it added.

On the sectoral front, pharmaceuticals contributed the highest 14.6% of the daily turnover on the premier bourse, followed by banking and textile sectors' 13% and 11.3% turnover contributions.

Most of the sectors displayed positive returns, out of which services and real estate, paper and printing, and the non-bank financial institutions gained most, 4.4%, 2.7% and 2.4% respectively.

Jute, tannery and banking sectors saw the most capital erosion as the market value of all the listed companies from the sectors fell by 1.6%, 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively.

Analysts said after months of sharp declines in the stock market this year, selling pressure had eased as share prices fell significantly. This encouraged equity investors to take positions in their preferred company shares whenever found cheaper.

However, the high inflation, interest rates and a slowdown in demand continue to weigh on investor confidence as they look for signs of economic recovery.

Asiatic Lab, NRB Bank, ICB, Fine Foods, Dragon Sweater, Grameenphone, Genex Infosys, Robi, Golden Son, and BRAC Bank topped the turnover chart today.