Stocks bounced back on Monday as a special court sent ex-Jamaat chief to jail for 90 years instead of the death penalty for war crimes.
The market was in red in the mid-session. But as soon as the news of the verdict spread across the market, investors started buying shares, pushing up the indices sharply higher, dealers said.
The benchmark DSE General Index, DGEN, closed at 4,736 with a sharp rise of 133 points or 2.9%, recovering losses of 167 points in the last two sessions. The rally was led by state-owned fuel companies and Gremeenphone that gained more than 8% each.
The free float-based benchmark, DSEX, rose 69 points or 1.7% to 4,275. The DSE30 gained 45 points or 2.8% to 1,650.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, closed 120 points higher to 8,429.
A special court on Monday sentenced Ghulam Azam to 90 years in prison for masterminding atrocities during the 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.
The verdict appeared as a mild punishment to the investors amid fears of political violence, but did not take place as apprehended earlier, said a leading stock broker. “As a result, investors reacted positively to the verdict.”
JMI Syringe Medical Devices Ltd was the top loser posting a fall of 9.95% as there were no buyers of the company’s shares after the news that the regulator opened investigation about its unusual price rise since its listing with the DSE, stock traders said.
Strong gain in top ten market-cap scrips that hold 42.80% of total market cap, drove market motion, said IDLC Investment in its daily market analysis.
In the meantime, livelier participation along with fresh positioning and repositioning helped turnover to rebuild. Seemingly, higher relative strength was observed in fuel and power sector that made up 267% of total turnover, it said.
The total turnover at DSE recovered from previous day’s two week low and rose 41% to Tk8.4bn over the previous session. Out of 283 issues traded, 175 advanced, 88 declined and 20 remained unchanged.
After facing correction in the last two sessions, market again turned bullish with steep gains in all three indices.
All the major sectors gained except heavyweight banks that lost 0.54%. Telecommunications rose highest 7.79%, led by Grameenphone, the largest cap stock, rose 8.7% on expectation of interim dividend declaration.
Power rallied 3.98%, non-banking financial institutions 1.98% and pharmaceuticals 0.92%.
Grameenphone was the most traded stock with Tk894.5m changing hands. It was followed by three oil distribution companies – Meghna Petroleum, Padma Oil and Jamuna Oil. The top four companies accounted for 30.6% of the total market turnover.