Share price index at the country’s twin bourses – Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) – gained for the second consecutive day in the New Year on Thursday, despite political turmoil across the country over the January 5 general election. Both the bourses witnessed gain throughout the week from Sunday to Thursday with no trading on Tuesday, the last day of the outgoing calendar year. Despite positive outlook of the country’s stock markets, many investors are worried over the country’s volatile political situation. The ruling Awami League is moving ahead to hold the election unilaterally without opposition’s participation while the opposition BNP-led alliance began enforcing non-stop countrywide blockade since Wednesday morning to resist the polls. The country’s whole trade and business have been experiencing almost a standstill condition for a couple of months due to confrontational politics, which left more than a hundred people killed and several thousand others injured. Amid such a situation, trading at both DSE and CSE on Thursday began on positive note. After some ups and downs, both the bourses ended the session with gain. However, the volume of trade in terms of value and number was lower on the day at both the bourses than on Wednesday. The DSE benchmark index, DSEX gained 27.94 points or 0.65 percent to reach 4314.09 at the close of trading today (Thursday). Of the 289 issues traded, 150 gained, 107 declined and 32 remained unchanged. Most of the traded issues of the day included those from mutual funds, steel, chemical and petroleum, ceramics, banking, and ceramics sector. Shares worth Tk 370.83 crore changed hands at the DSE on the day against Tk 411.97 crore on Thursday. The day’s top 10 gainers at the DSE were 4th ICB, 5th ICB, Apollo Ispat, BSRM Steel, Apex Adelchi Footwear, EBL NRB Mutual Fund, Standard Ceramics, Aramit Cement, Active Fine Chemicals, and Beximco. Apollo Ispat, Lanka Bangla, SPPCL, Golden Son and Grammen Phone were the top most traded issues at the DSE in terms of both value and volume. The CSE key index, CSCX gained 46.89 points to reach 8469.81 at the close today. Of the 207 issues traded, 102 advanced, 79 suffered loss and 26 remained unchanged. The value of the traded issues was Tk 42.67 crore on the day against Tk 43.41 crore on Thursday. – UNB
