Stocks rising over increased investor participation

The stock market continued to rise for a second consecutive day as investor participation increased after many shares reached lucrative prices in the recent bearish trend. DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), surged 103 points, or 2 per cent, to 5,281 yesterday.Market analysts say that many well-performing stocks dropped by around 15 per cent in the past month to reach the bottom level. In this position, many investors consider these stocks to be lucrative and so, they are investing. Besides, investors know about the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact, so it seems that they expect the situation to return to normal after a few months.Stocks of Beximco Limited traded the most with Tk 44 crore worth of shares changing hands, followed by Robi Axiata, Asia Pacific Insurance, LankaBangla Finance, and Beximco Pharmaceuticals. Mercantile Bank shed most, dropping 12 per cent, followed by BIFC, ACI Formulations, ICB Islamic Bank and SEBL First Mutual Fund. At the DSE, 240 stocks advanced, 15 declined and 91 remained unchanged. The Chittagong Stock Exchange also remains in an upward trend. CASPI, the general index of the port city bourse, rose 297 points, or 1.98 per cent, to stand at 15,264.Among its 188 traded stocks, 146 rose, 12 fell and 30 remained unchanged.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/stocks-rising-over-increased-investor-participation-2073397

Exports rebound in March

Earnings from merchandise exports rebounded in March rising 12.59 per cent year-on-year to $3.07 billion mainly due to a slow recovery in garment shipments over the last few months on the back of relaxed lockdowns in the West. However, receipts from March’s shipment of goods were 10.79 per cent below the monthly export target of $3.44 billion, showed data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).Business activities in Bangladesh had reached near normalcy over the last few months despite the fear of the pandemic and lockdowns in some major export destinations in Europe and the US, which had affected shipment of goods to some extent.Between July and March of the current fiscal year, Bangladesh earned $23.48 billion from apparel shipments, which was only 2.55 per cent lower than earnings from the items in the corresponding period last fiscal year, reads the data. Of the total earning from the garment items, $12.65 billion came from knitwear which also registered a 5.85 per cent growth year-on-year while earnings from woven shipments was $10.83 billion, which declined by 10.83 per cent year-on-year.A year-over-year comparison of monthly exports between 2020 and 2021 would be misleading and any growth in export for the months of 2021 has to be calculated with the corresponding months of 2019, she said. After the third quarter of fiscal 2020-21, export earnings from garment stood at $23.49 billion which was $25.95 billion during the same period of FY2018-19, indicating a 9.49 per cent or $2.46 billion decline. Knitwear export struggled to retain 0.35 per cent growth in March 2021 over March 2019; the average growth of knitwear export for July-March 2020-21 than July-March 2018-19 is 1.15 per cent in the negative. Woven garments are facing the toughest time ever, while export has suffered double digit declines since August 2020, and in the month of March 2021 compared to March 2019 woven export fallen by 27.70 per cent. The nine-month average growth between 2021 and 2019 stands 17.62 per cent in the negative.In the July-March period, the overall earnings from export was $28.93 billion which is a decline of only 0.12 per cent year-on-year. However, the July-March earnings from overall shipments is 4.43 per cent below the periodic target of $30.27 billion. Carpet export grew by 41.86 per cent to $25.62 million, agricultural products 3.43 per cent to $746.72 million, pharmaceuticals 12.04 per cent to $119.01 million and home textile 41.5 per cent to $846.45 million.For instance, shipment of frozen and live fish declined 8.66 per cent to $367.74million, terry towel 4.49 per cent to $28.69 million, headgear/cap 3.3 per cent to $160.82 million and ceramics 8.87 per cent to $22.71 million.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/exports-rebound-march-2073413

BSEC to launch green bond

Discussants have laid importance on green financings, proper coordination among regulatory bodies and time befitting researches to ensure sustainable economic developments. Their suggestions came Tuesday at the inaugural session of a two-day long online conference titled ‘International Conference on Sustainable Finance & Investment’.We need more international friends and zones having free trade agreement facilities, better policy and networks, among others, to mobilise more funds for our sustainable developments. Insurance and pension funds are also the sources of long term financings. These areas should also be addressed.

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/bsec-to-launch-green-bond-says-its-chief-1617726281

NaazFarhana DWCCI president

Dhaka Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DWCCI) has elected NaazFarhana as its president, SajedaMinhaj senior vice-president, Sharif SeneShembil vice president for the term of 2021-2023 as a 17-member executive board was formed at the DWCCI annual general meeting

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade-market/naaz-farhana-dwcci-president-1617726116