Robi drives DSEX past 5,300-mark after 18 months

Published at 10:33 pm December 27th, 2020

DSEX closed the day at 5,328.28, its highest level since July 7, 2019.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange gained 2.1 per cent on Sunday to cross the 5,300-mark after 18 months, as Robi’s debut on the bourse on Thursday appears to have heated up the market.

DSEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, edged up by 109.9 points to close the day at 5,328.28, its highest level since July 7, 2019.

Robi topped the gainers’ chart, advancing by 50 per cent, followed by LankaBangla Finance and SS Steel, both of which gained 10 per cent.

Had there been no circuit-breaker for Robi, the gain could very well have been more.

Within 12 minutes of its maiden trading session on December 24, Robi shares, whose issue price is Tk 10, hit Tk 15, the maximum it is allowed to rise as per the circuit breaker rules introduced by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission last year with the view to preventing shares soaring astronomically on their debut.

On the first day of trading, the stock’s price cannot increase by more than 50 per cent on the issue price. In the following trading session, the stock’s price cannot gain more than 50 per cent of the first day’s closing price or on the adjusted open price.

Circuit breaker regulation will be as usual from the third trading session.

Sunday was the second trading session for Robi shares.

The strong bullish vibe of the market is based on regulatory assurance to build a vibrant capital market in the country while investors favoured afresh stakes on big stocks due to yearend dividend expectation, said EBL Securities in its daily market update.

In an event on Thursday, BSEC Chairman Shibli Rubayet ul Islam said the rogue players would be driven out of the market within six months.

“It is now just a matter of time before we get a stable and sustainable capital market. I hope you will get the feeling within three to six months that the big players no longer want to play here as they won't be able to do what they did before. We will give security to the investors," he said.

Turnover, an important indicator of the market, crossed the Tk 1,500 crore-mark after six months after soaring 8.82 per cent from the previous session.

Gainers beat losers as 238 out of the 362 issues advanced, 65 declined and 59 remained unchanged.

Beximco, which has been having a good run at the bourse of late, continued to be the most traded stock, followed by Robi and IFIC.

Over at the port city, its benchmark index CSCX gained by a similar percentage to its Dhaka counterpart. CSCX gained 226 points or 2.5 per cent to close at 9,262.7.

Of the issues traded, 184 advanced, 58 declined and 44 remained unchanged on the CSE.

The port city bourse traded 2.6 crore shares and mutual fund units with a turnover of Tk 68.5 crore, down about 6 per cent from the previous day.