Stocks close higher for second day

Dhaka, Jan 10 (bdprem.com)--Stocks ended upbeat Thursday for a second day amid the spot trading of Jamuna Oil. On its Wednesday debut, Jamuna surged to the day's highest of Tk 952 before it ended at Tk 600. Jamuna ended at Tk 529.90 Thursday, down 11.68 percent. The state-owned oil marketing company started offloading 1.35 crore shares of Tk 10 each under the direct listing regulations on the capital market. Market analysts said the hike–fuelled by enthusiasm among investors was "irrational". "It reflects that investors were too much excited about Jamuna shares," said a top executive of a brokerage house, asking not to be named. The analyst warned that the unusual price might drive some investors into making risky decisions. Dhaka Stock Exchange started with a rise in the opening trade but declined on the second hour. The prime bourse returned from losses to end higher. The benchmark DGEN or general index ended at 2993.16, rising 3.79 points or 0.12 percent. The DSI or all share price index climbed 5.45 points or 0.21 percent to 2522.74. The bourse's blue-chip DSE-20 ended down 12.72 points or 0.51 percent to 2436.67. Turnover totalled Tk 1.42 billion from trading of 7,669,714 shares. Gainers equalled losers at 100 and 26 issues remained unchanged. The day's trading was paced by shares in banks, power companies, insurers and mutual funds. IFIC Bank topped the turnover board, closing 4.58 percent higher at Tk 2758.50. AB Bank ended at Tk 2785.25, up 1.57 percent. UCBL continued making gains from Wednesday, rising 7.43 percent to Tk 4611.50. Power sector heavyweight Summit Power also continued to rise and closed 4.09 percent higher at Tk 1513. BOC Bangladesh eroded Wednesday's gains and ended 2.37 percent lower at Tk 308.70. Among the other scrips on the turnover board—Fareast Life Insurance, Square Pharma, Grameen Mutual Fund One and BRAC Bank—ended lower. Islami Bank advanced. M Hossain Garments, Purabi General Insurance, Miracle Industries, Pharma Aids and UCBL were among the major gainers while Eastern Lubricants, Padma Cement, Rahima Food, Maq Enterprise and Keya Detergent topped the pack of losers. All the indices on the Chittagong Stock Exchange ended higher. Paper and printing, ICT and engineering sector gained the most. The CSCX or selective categories index gained 11.76 points or 0.24 percent to close at 4884.62. The CASPI or all share price index ended at 7605.55, up 17.07 points or 0.22 percent. The CSE-30 blue-chip index climbed 3.62 points or 0.05 percent to 6891.90. Turnover on the port city's bourse reached Tk 211.421 million from trading of 2,741,841 shares. Of the traded issues, 59 advanced, 44 declined and 11 remained unchanged.