Stocks rise for 2nd day on vaccine hopes

Dhaka stocks rose on Wednesday, extending the gaining streak for the second consecutive session, buoyed by vaccine news.

The benchmark index DSEX gained over 30 points or 0.63% to settle at 4,934 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

Among other indices, Shariah-based DSES Index was slightly up by over 6 points or 0.55% to 1,126 and the blue chip DS30 Index also rose by over 9 points or 0.55% to 1,704.

Stocks have soared back to highs, as optimism around a potential Covid-19 vaccine offset worries of economic damage from surging infections, according to stockbrokers.

On Wednesday, the cabinet committee on economic affairs cleared a decision to buy vaccines for Covid-19 on an emergency basis following the direct purchase system.

The government will procure the Covishield vaccine, developed jointly by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, from the Serum Institute of India through Beximco Pharmaceuticals.

Pfizer Inc said its Covid-19 vaccine, developed with German partner BioNTech SE, was more than 90% effective in preventing infection, marking the first successful results from a large-scale clinical trial.

Among major sectors, cement, engineering, general insurance and services and real estate sectors advanced while bank, mutual fund, life insurance and telecom sectors fell on profit-booking.

Turnover increased by 26.7% to Tk841 crore. General Insurance sector continued to dominate the turnover chart, accounting for 23.7% of total turnover.

Beximco — the flagship company of Beximco Group — was the top turnover leader, followed by National Food Mill, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company (BSCCL), Nitol Insurance, Quasem Industries and Pragati Insurance.

The BSCCL became the fouth highest turnover leaders after several months following the government’s approval of connecting Bangladesh with the third submarine cable.

Share prices of Dominage Steel Building Systems hit the upper limit circuit breaker at Tk15 per share in its first trading day. Only four of its shares were traded.

It reported that its earnings per share (EPS) was Tk1.42 as of June 30, 2020 compared to Tk1.83 from the same period a year earlier.