Dhaka stocks bounce back after 4 days

Following a four-day slump, Dhaka stocks bounced back yesterday with almost all the shares gaining.
Of the issues traded on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), prices of 198 companies' shares advanced while prices of only 23 companies' declined and the prices of 11 companies' remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, trading of shares of ICB Islamic Bank, formerly known as Oriental Bank, resumed yesterday with the share prices shooting up by 100 percent.
Yesterday the bank's share prices rose to Tk 1856 from Tk 928 on June 21 of 2006, the last trading day, when the stock market regulator suspended trading of the bank's shares.
Earlier, Switzerland-based ICB Financial Group Holdings AG has bought majority shares (50.10 percent) of Oriental Bank in exchange of Tk 350 crore ($51 million) early this year, while the remaining shares are to be distributed among depositors of the bank as per the BB guidelines. The central bank transferred its management over the bank to its major stakeholder in March of this year.
However, all the price indices on the premier bourse shot up yesterday with the DSE General Index increasing by 71.66 points, or 2.41 percent, to 3036.02 points and the DSE All Share Price Index by 78.03 points, or 3.09 percent, to 2597.27 points.
A total of 1,38,90,607 shares worth Tk 247.40 crore were traded on the prime bourse.
Market experts said the rise in prices shows that the investors are getting rid of the panicky situation.
“The investors are no more in confusion regarding investing in stocks,” said Yawer Sayeed, managing director and chief executive officer of AIMS of Bangladesh.
However, the huge jump in indices once again reflects the inherent weakness of the stock market, he added.
Like DSE, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also went up yesterday with the gainers outnumbering the losers.
The CSE Selective Categories Index shot up by 2.27 percent to 5902.19 points, while the CSE All Share Price Index went up by 2.09 percent to 9121.41 points.
A total of 32,21,724 shares worth Tk 33.58 crore changed hands. Of the issues traded, 124 advanced and 10 declined with two unchanged on the port city bourse.