Stocks rise but turnover falls

All the indexes of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) rose slightly yesterday amid the lower participation of investors, who fear that the recent hike in gas and power tariffs would hurt the earnings of listed firms.

On June 18, the government raised the retail price of gas between 14.5 per cent and 178.9 per cent for industries, power plants and commercial establishments to lessen its unsustainable subsidy burden amid a narrow fiscal space.

It came less than a week after the tariff for electricity was revised upwards by 5 per cent. The hikes in gas and electricity prices are expected to fuel inflationary pains and hit the earnings of companies.

Despite such a gloomy scenario, the DSEX, the benchmark index of the premier bourse in Bangladesh, added 7 points, or 0.12 per cent, to close the day at 6,263 yesterday.

The DS30, the blue-chip index, rose 0.33 per cent to 2,211 while the DSES, the shariah-compliant index, inched up 0.33 per cent to 1,365.

"The investors' confidence is still shaky as the recent price hike in energy will dampen the performances of the listed companies. So, most investors remained on the sidelines," said a merchant banker.

Turnover, an important indicator of the market, dropped about 26 per cent to Tk 509 crore. Of the securities, 34 advanced, 140 declined, and 175 did not show any price movement.

Stocks bounced back as some investors went on to buy mid-session, especially in travel, pharmaceuticals, life insurance and tannery stocks, said International Leasing Securities Ltd in its daily market review.

The market opened with a downward movement as it observed some sale pressures in the morning session. Later, the market reversed to the green as opportunistic investors took the position in the stocks at lucrative prices.

Among the sectors, travel advanced 2.1 per cent, pharmaceuticals rose 0.6 per cent and life insurance was up 0.5 per cent. General insurance dropped 1.1 per cent and jute fell was down 0.8 per cent.

Investors' activities were mainly focused on the IT sector, capturing 19 per cent of the day's total turnover. The general insurance sector represented 13.7 per cent of the turnover and the life insurance sector made up 11.5 per cent.

Bangladesh Monospool Paper Manufacturing Company topped the gainers' list with an increase of 8.44 per cent.

Dhaka Insurance was up 8.21 per cent, Orion Infusion rose 7.5 per cent, Gemini Sea Food advanced 7.2 per cent, and Bangladesh Welding Electrodes gained 6.7 per cent.

Metro Spinning topped the list of losers after shedding more than 5.3 per cent. Genex Infosys, ADN Telecom, Lub-rref (Bangladesh), and Reliance Insurance suffered substantial losses as well.

Genex Infosys was the most-traded stock on the day with its shares worth Tk 45 crore transacted. Aamra Networks, Meghna Life Insurance, Gemini Sea Food, and Bashundhara Paper Mills also saw significant turnover.

The stocks on the Chittagong Stock Exchange rose slightly.

The Caspi, the all-share price index of the bourse in the port city, gained 2 points, or 0.01 per cent, to close at 18,457.

Of the issues, 28 rose, 73 retreated and 72 did not see any price movement. Turnover edged up 6 per cent to Tk 8.5 crore.