BANGLADESH

Dhaka Stock Exchange authorities believe that the High Court rule, which seeks explanation on a Securities and Exchange Commission order that makes holding two percent shares by directors mandatory, will not impact trading in the capital market.

Soon after the High Court issued the rule on Sunday, DSE called an emergency meeting where it was decided that the trading would be stopped, but later they changed their mind.

DSE president Rakibur Rahman, after the meeting, urged the investors not to panic over the High Court ruling.

DSE officials will sit with attorney general Mahbubey Alam at 9am on Monday to discuss the SEC order, Rakibur said. "The SEC direction will have to be implemented."

DSE director Ahsanul Islam also expressed hope that the rule will not impact the market.

The benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) went up in the first hour of trading on Thursday, the last day of the week.

The index started gaining after the day's trading begun, up 74 points, hitting 4,584 points at 12pm.

The first hour's volume of trading was Tk 1.29 billion, with prices of 222 issues rising, 11 falling and three remaining unchanged.

The benchmark index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) rose sharply in the first half of trading on Tuesday.

DSE general index increased to 4637.16 points, gaining 115.83 points or 2.56 percent at 1pm.

Shares and mutual funds worth Tk 3.06 billion changed hands until then, with prices of 231 issues advancing, 12 declining and 12 remaining unchanged.

The index rose to 4645.90 points with a gain of 124.57 points or 2.75 percent at 12:08pm.

After posting a rise of 174.72 points or 4 percent to 4542.53 points on Sunday, the DGEN shed 21.20 points, or 0.47 percent, on Monday to 4521.33 points.

The general index had closed the week at 4367.81 points on Thursday, a day after a committee recommended waiver of up to 50 percent interest on margin loans taken by small investors.

The previous week saw the benchmark index gaining on the last two days of trading, a 121.5-point rise on Thursday and a 62.78 point rise the day before.

The gains helped tide over losses it experienced earlier in the week, losing 30.96 points on Monday and 44.56 points on Sunday. At the end of the week, 108.76 points were added to DGEN.

The index has been steadily gaining over the two weeks before that with a 245-point gain in the week between Feb 12 and Feb 16 and a 165-point gain in the week before that (Feb 5-Feb 9).

The country's premier bourse started off the week with an uptrend as prices of most shares and mutual funds gained in the initial hours of trading on Sunday.

Prices of 237 issues rose and eight declined in the Tk 1.46 billion exchange that occurred until 12.48 am. The general index (DGEN) was pushed up by 196.06 points or 4.89 percent to stand at 4206.85 points by then.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended last week, despite undergoing topsy-turvy trading all through, with a 201.03 or 5.28 percent rise on the last day.

The previous week saw a number of potholes, with the general index losing 5.96 percent on the opening Monday and a 3.44 percent on Wednesday.

Monday's fall created a new record with the DGEN plummeting to a new low of 3616.24 points - the lowest it has touched so far since December 2010.

However, the rise on Thursday and an above 9 percent hike on Tuesday saw the week closing at 4010.8 points, gaining around 165 points.

Although the market stabilised a little in December 2011 after market regulator SEC declared a package of incentives, the stocks started taking a battering from the first week of the new year.

An hour of trading at the country's premier bourse has seen 175 points or 4.22 percent knocked off the Dhaka Stock Exchange General Index (DGEN) on the second last trading day of the week, with prices of most shares and mutual funds falling.

The DGEN stood at 3978.48 points around 11:59am on Wednesday with shares worth Tk 778.80 million changing hands by then. Prices of 227 issues fell, seven remained unchanged and only two rose.

Despite opening on Tuesday with a rise in the general index, the Dhaka Stock Exchange ended up closing in the red, 132.15 point lower than the opening, after day-long fluctuations.

On Monday, the DSE managed to close in the green, gaining 103 points. On Sunday, the DGEN dropped below the 4200-point mark to 4183.07 points, the lowest since the market instability in 2010.

The index close dropped below the 4200-point mark for the last time on Nov 19 2009, over 26 months ago.

Previous week's trading saw a loss of 458.9 points or 9.29 percent. The daily average turnover was Tk 2.41 billion, 19 percent lower than that of the previous week.

Although the market stabilised a little last month after the market regulator SEC had declared a package of incentives, the stocks started taking a battering in the first week of the new year.

General indices of both the bourses have plummeted sharply, a day after closing high.

On Wednesday, the index at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) lost 94 points and 155 on the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE).

Asked, CSE president Fakhor Uddin Ali Ahmed told , "The index fell as the assured steps to keep the market stable have not been fulfilled."

He said, "The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declared taking various steps like increasing netting facilities, minimising transaction time, reducing CDBL charges and increasing time to adjust subsidiary loan. But as the implementation is yet to happen, the market has fallen again."

After a meeting with the Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association (BMBA) on Tuesday, SEC spokesman Saifur Rahman said the central bank had decided to give merchant banks more time to adjust their single-party exposure limit in a bid to help the drooping capital market.

The measure triggered the indices at both the bourses, until Wednesday morning, after which it started falling.

Small investors in frustration staged demonstration in front of the DSE.

BMBA president Mohammad A Hafiz in the evening told that shares were being bought from different institutions including merchant banks.

He also urged the investors to have patience, anticipating that the market would rebound within a day or two.

"Assurance has been given to extend time for loan adjustment. Therefore, there's nothing to panic," he observed.

Capital Market Investors Council's Mizanur Rashid Khan said there was a rumour that the adjustment time would not be extended.

"We've heard that a circular was supposed to be published, but it did not happen at last," he added.

On Wednesday, turnover stood at Tk 3.79 billion, 225 share prices declined, 25 advanced and seven remained unchanged.

The DSE general index rose 134.32 points or 2.26 percent to 6055.17 on Tuesday.

Trading at the country's premier bourse, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), started off with a sharp fall in the general index.

Following half an hour of trading on Tuesday, the DSE general index shed 64.56 points to stand at 5699.38 around 11.34am. Shares worth a total of Tk 519.13 million had been traded by then.

Of the 206 traded issues, prices of 183 fell, 12 rose and 11 remained unchanged.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) has started a two-day workshop on 'Improvement of Capital Market Governance Project'.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) member Mohammad Helal Uddin Ahmed inaugurated the workshop at CSE on Saturday morning.

Prior to that, CSE president Fakhr Uddin Ali explained the objectives of the workshop at a press briefing at the stock exchange the same morning.

He said that CSE organised the training to ensure transparency and development of the stock market.

"Transparency and monitoring of brokerage houses can be ensured if staff is well-informed about compliances and surveillance," he added.

He said 15 staff from CSE, three from DSE and two from Central Depository of Bangladesh Limited (CDBL) would be taking part in the workshop.

CSE vice president Tareq Kamal and director Mohammad Mohiuddin were also present at the press conference.

The participants would also exchange their experiences with the brokerage houses after completing the workshop on Sunday.

The workshop will be jointly conducted by SEC, International Securities Commission (ISC) consultants Stella Tang and Wali Ul Maruf, and SEC director Saifur Rahman.

Dhaka Stock Exchange has agreed to a proposal of sponsors and directors buying their own company shares at a fixed price to stop market slide.

Following a meeting of the DSE executive board Wednesday evening, senior vice-president Ahsanul Alam Tito told reporters, "DSE has agreed to the proposal of sponsors and directors buying their shares."

"Now the proposal will be sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approval," he added.

The proposal was put forth by the Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies (BAPLC), saying that the ailing capital market could be revamped if the sponsors and directors were allowed to buy the shares of their own companies. It also urged SEC to amend the relevant law.

BAPLC president Salman F Rahman, a DSE director, had said the proposal was an effort to stall the freefall of prices.

"Shareholders and the companies both suffer losses when share prices fall," he had said.

He emphasised however, that the proposal was not that of a 'buy-back'.

The meeting over, Rahman told reporters: "Several decisions have been made at the meeting. We are trying to give investors a bailout in margin loans."

He said the decisions will hopefully be unveiled at a news conference at FBCCI headquarters on Thursday at 1pm.

Investors who took margin loans from merchant banks and bought shares faced a crisis when the prices fell drastically. They are unable to sell the shares even as their interest rates grow, while merchant banks cannot recover their assets, leading to a gridlock in the market.

The BAPLC has proposed a separate board for dealing Z category, overvalued stocks and stocks with small paid-up capitals.

Tito said these proposals would be discussed in the next meeting of DSE.

DSE president Shakil Rizvi, FBCCI president A K Azad and members of the executive board were present at the meeting.