BANGLADESH

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.

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.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved a new set of book-building rules for listing of shares.

The amended rules were approved at the Commission's meeting on Tuesday evening, SEC spokesperson and executive director Saifur Rahman told bdnews24.com.

Since the catastrophic Dec-Jan collapse in the capital market, the book-building process has been a subject of intense debate. The finance minister later ordered the rules be suspended and amended.

On Aug 17, the Commission approved a draft set of amended rules.

As per the amended rules, at least 20 companies from the six categories must take part in the bidding, with at least three from each category. They must also mention how many shares each of them want to purchase.

Besides, no single company can purchase more than 5 percent of the shares, it says. However, there are no valuation caps, like PE ratio and NAV, for the issue price.

Also, to enter the bidding, a company must be approved by an international approval agency.

Institutional investors have been allowed a 40 percent quota under the new norms.

Asset management companies will now on be able to participate in the book-building process. However, any sponsor or director of such an institution will not be able to take part in the bidding.

Share lock-in period has been extended from 15 days to four months.

The two stock exchanges will function as observers in the book-building process.

The SEC will be able to audit, review and cancel any book-building process.

Tuesday's meeting also finalised a policy on placement which will be sent for notification, and a draft of rights issue rules, which will be sent for public opinion survey.