DSEX hits biggest rally in 15 weeks

Dhaka stocks rose sharply on Sunday, as investors continued to wave away the threat of a new coronavirus and cheer Robi, the country’s biggest IPO ever.

The DSEX added over 109 points or 2 percent to settle at 5,328--its highest since August 25, 2019, when it was 5,223. The index also saw the biggest single-day rise since August 16 this year when it climbed 156 points and gained for the second straight session in a row.

Rolling out more stimulus packages to revive the economy, falling banking interest rates, and listing of largest IPO were among the factors that helped the market to go up steeply, according to brokers.

Shares of Robi were frozen at 50 percent upper circuit on the DSE on the second consecutive trading day. More than 17 lakh shares were changed hands at the halted price and more than 7 crore buyers were waiting to bet on the new stock, the DSE data showed.

The heavyweight debutant opened at Tk 22.50, 50 percent higher than the previous day’s closing price. The increase was capped by the regulatory limit for the stock.

Other indices, the DSES moved up more than 23 points or 1.91 percent to 1,226 and blue-chip DS30 was up 39 points or 2 percent to 1,915.

Telecommunication, engineering, NBFI, and banking sectors advanced supported the market to break records while general insurance and cement sectors faced correction.

Turnover increased by 8.8 percent to Tk 15,300 crore backed by the pharmaceutical sector that made up 14.6 percent of total turnover.

“Today, we’ve seen the aggressive response to some positive developments,” said an analyst at an investment bank.

The government was working to allocate additional stimulus funds to weather the fallout of Covid-19 that wreaked havoc on the local and global economies, and falling bank interest rates continued to instil bullish sentiment in the market, he said.

Robi IPO accelerated the bullish sentiment, sending the market to a new height in recent months, said the analyst.

Beximco—the flagship company of Beximco Group—was the most traded stock with shares worth Tk 126 crore changed hands. It was followed by IFIC Bank and Beximco Pharmaceuticals.

The three companies of the same group continued to dominate the trading for a long time since the news that Beximco is set to import doses of the coronavirus vaccine from abroad.