Stock

JAN 6, The slumping stockmarket prompted several hundred investors to take to the Motijheel street yesterday for more than one and a half hours, the third time in last one month. In the previous two cases, the retail investors had staged demonstrations after a massive intra-day fall in share prices, but this time they agitated following a combined fall of 356 points in the last three days. Although a long-term correction in stock prices was expected anytime in the last one year, the recent bearish trend as seen by experts is due mainly to liquidity crisis in the market. The institutional investors are facing shortage of fund, while the lenders cannot provide share credit to the retail investors due to the central bank's monetary tightening measures for curbing inflation, said one expert. Yesterday, the aggrieved investors started coming out of their trading houses around 11:30am when the market declined by around 120 points. They set fire to tires, wood and paper in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) building blocking roads from Shapla Chattar to Ittefaq crossing and vandalised seven vehicles including private cars. The agitating investors also chanted slogans against top bosses of the premier bourse and market regulators, and demanded resignation of the central bank governor. The law enforcers chased the demonstrators to free the streets. Chase and counter-chase between the police and investors continued for some time. Apart from using water cannon, police charged batons and lobbed at least three tear gas canisters to disperse the demonstrators, some of whom threw brickbats on the law enforcers. After the police actions, vehicular movement became normal at about 1:15pm. Tofazzal Hossain, officer-in-charge of Motijheel Police Station, said additional police personnel were deployed in the area to fend off any untoward incident. Faisal Ahmed, an agitating investor, said, "The present situation in the market has resulted from frequent interventions by the regulator, and the central bank's unfriendly monetary policies." He went on, "For them [regulators] we are continuously losing our money…We now seek government intervention to stabilise the market."

Other demonstrators, who were accompanying Faisal, said they may go for tougher and long-term protest if the market is not stabilised. The market however recovered 75 percent of the losses caused in the early morning session. At the end of four-hour trading, the benchmark DSE General Index closed 32 points lower at 7,948 points. Insiders said a rumour on raising the limit of commercial banks' investment exposure to the stockmarket to 15 percent of their deposits by the central bank helped the market recover the losses. But a senior official of Bangladesh Bank said there was no such change in the banks' investment exposure to the stockmarket. "As per bank company act, no one is allowed to invest in the market over 10 percent of a bank's deposit, and the central bank cannot change the ratio unless the company act is amended," he clarified. BRAC-EPL, an investment firm, in its regular market analysis said, "Through the trading session the upward and downward movements of the index clearly reflect the lack of investors' confidence." The low confidence also left its impact on the day's turnover, which came down to three months' lowest to Tk 1,029 crore on the DSE. Losers beat advancers 158 to 80, with five securities remaining unchanged. JAN 6, Earn from the stockmarket, it is all yours. If you lose, it will be yours too. When you are angered by a loss and take to street protests, it yields nothing, said market experts yesterday. The market is by no means a political platform, said one of the experts, hours after protests hit the Motijheel Street over a 120-point fall in early trade on the prime bourse. Retail investors take to the streets each time the market goes through a correction in prices or a downtrend in the indices -- more of a trait now. For a third time in the last one month, the stock investors did it again yesterday by blocking roads in the bustling financial district, setting fire to tyres, vandalising vehicles and chanting slogans. "Any kind of protest in the stockmarket is not expected in any situation," said Faruq Ahmad Siddiqi, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulator.

It is quite usual that a market will see both ups and downs, he added. No stockmarket in the world can only rise or go down. "If the market goes up, it will sink as well. It's natural," said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, a professor of finance at Dhaka University. Although a correction was widely expected any time in the last one year, the present downtrend is mainly because of the liquidity crisis, said Khan, also a former chief executive officer of Dhaka Stock Exchange. "The retail investors should keep in mind that it's not a place for protest or demonstration. It's unfortunate that the investors take to the streets whenever the market witnesses a fall," he said. The market is now facing a liquidity crisis mainly due to the monetary tightening measures taken by the central bank to curb inflation. As a result, the institutional investors are going through a shortage of funds, while the lenders cannot provide credit. After yesterday's fall, DSE President Shakil Rizvi said street protests have become a common practice, as the investors see that the market rises immediately after the demonstration. "We are asking investors to make investment decisions wisely after analysing a company's fundamentals.” In 2010, the market reported a big jump in prices. From January 3 to December 30, the benchmark index of the premier bourse went up by 3,754 points, or 82 percent, to 8,290. The "bull run" lured thousands of fresh investors with crores of taka in hand into the market, increasing the demand for shares and making the stocks overvalued.

JAN 7, A dearth of liquidity takes a heavy toll on the premier bourse's turnover or transaction value that hit its lowest yesterday in eight months. It came on top of a continued free fall in share prices. The single-day turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange came down to Tk 969 crore yesterday, 6 percent lower than the previous day's and 70 percent lower than the highestever single-day turnover of Tk 3,249 crore a month ago.

The market is facing the liquidity crisis mainly due to the monetary tightening measures taken by the central bank to curb inflation. As a result, the institutional investors are going through a shortage of funds, while the lenders cannot provide credit. "Many investors were not confident enough to put in fresh funds. The market felt sales pressure from the investors who were sitting on profit," said LankaBangla Securities in an analysis. It said the credit providers could not extend additional loans to the clients because of costly borrowing. "Institutions sat idle due to expensive liquidity in the money market and are reluctant to overexpose to the stockmarket due to tight surveillance of the watchdog." "The bearish trend is expected to be chronic if the market does not get liquidity support," LankaBangla said. The market went down for the fourth consecutive session yesterday, with the benchmark index of the Dhaka bourse -- DSE General Index (DGEN) -- suffering a loss of 212 points to 7,735. In the last four trading days, the DGEN slumped by 570 points. The continuous slump also prompted the retail investors to take to the streets yesterday for a second day in a row. Police detained at least six people in front of the Dhaka bourse and the adjacent areas on charge of street vandalism during a demonstration. Chittagong stocks also suffered a big loss yesterday, with the CSE Selective Categories Index sliding by 323 points to 14,193. The single-day turnover on the Chittagong Stock Exchange also plummeted by 22 percent to Tk 94 crore.

JAN 10, Dhaka stocks suffered the highest-ever fall last week, plunging 551 points, but recovery almost beat the disaster at the end. Week-on-week, the benchmark index of the premier bourse, DSE General Index, declined only 98 points, or 1.2 percent, to 8,108.

Angered by the index’s free fall from the opening bell of the last week, investors took to the streets. “Apart from the inactive institutional participation due to the skyrocketing call money rate, the Sunday's fall could largely be attributed to the rampant share sale by frightened small investors who never experienced such an abrupt correction," LankaBangla Securities, a leading stockbroker, said in its weekly market analysis. The declining Dhaka stocks rebounded with 304 points of increase on Monday, which was the highest-ever in 2010 and just second to the historical 764.87 points single-day hike on November 16 of 2009, the debut trading day of telecom giant Grameenphone. "The regulator's withdrawal of new directive to tight Dhaka Stock Exchange (Members' Margin) Regulations, postponement of NAV-based margin loan calculation, hike of margin loan from 100 percent to 150 percent and bringing Grameenphone and Marico shares in the normal market contributed to this rally," the LankaBangla said. "Also Bangladesh Bank's decision to ease the instable money market by limiting interbank call money rate to 50 percent and the directive to commercial banks deferring the time for adjusting industrial loan diversion fuelled this jump," it said. The initiatives taken by both Securities and Exchange Commission and the central bank kept pushing up the benchmark index of the premier bourse that gained Tuesday too. The investors' rush for heavy weight banks and telecom scrips led the rally. On Wednesday, Dhaka stocks took a break from deep losses after rising for two days. The gauge seesawed whole the session and finally ended flat due to profit-taking, as the session was the maturity day for the stocks that were bought at a cheap level on the historic 551 points crash. In the pre-holiday session, stocks plunged 63.47 points after taking respite on previous day. Although the regulatory body was able to reverse the market trend to some extent, there was no impact on the liquidity flow. The daily average turnover for the week was 3 percent lower compared to last week. "The increase in margin ratio was yet to make an impact in the turnover value as most of the merchant banks and brokerage houses are facing difficulties to fund the increased liquidity need of the investors," BRAC-EPL, an investment firm, said in its weekly market analysis. The total turnover value was 20 percent higher last week compared to the previous week, as there was one more trading session last week.

Losers beat advancers 193 to 53 with two securities remaining unchanged on the prime bourse. Market capitalisation rose to Tk 3,46,790 crore, registering a 0.53 percent rise. Chittagong stocks, however, marked a sharp rise last week, with the CSE Selective Categories Index increasing 6.98 percent to 15,014. Gainers beat losers 142 to 63, with four securities remaining unchanged on the Chittagong Stock Exchange. /*JAN10 Trading has been halted at Bangladesh's main stock exchange amid protests over the largest single day loss in the bourse's 55-year history. The exchange halted trading on Monday as per orders from the Securities and Exchange Commission after the benchmark index plunged 9.25 per cent within the first hour of trading. Buses of riot police were deployed to the stock exchange building in the capital Dhaka where protesters chanted slogans against the government and market regulators. Some protesters burned vehicles as riot police struggled to keep control, firing tear gas and charging the crowd with batons. Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque, reporting from the capital, said: "Because Bangladesh's stock market is largely driven by individual retail investors, many investors have lost their savings." Monirul Islam, an investor attending the protests, told the AFP news agency: "I lost $70,000 dollars. This is insane - my whole savings are gone." "I poured all my money into the Dhaka stock exchange," Humayum Kabir, another Bangladeshi investor, said. "The finance minister lured us into the stock market, he told us it was safe, but now we have lost everything. They artificially jacked up the prices of junk shares and now our savings have vanished," Kabir said. Necessary correction The country's stock exchange hit a record high of 8,918.51 on December 5, but it has so far lost 27.4 per cent, which many experts have called a necessary correction.

Tanvir Chowdhury, the editor of the online journal News from Bangladesh, told Al Jazeera: "One of the factors that could explain these dramatic losses is how the market has widened but the number of the shares does not match the expectations of the people waiting to buy. There is also a lot of speculation from investors who do not understand the stock market. "Small time entrepreneurs who have little money to invest think they'll get a quick return out of the market by buying stocks without realising the real face value of the stock versus the performance of the companies they are buying from, but it doesn't work like that," Chowdhury said. Prices of shares have suffered a series of slides since early December after the stock regulator and the central bank took measures to cool the market, prompting some street protests. The central bank had raised banks' cash requirement ratio from 5.5 per cent to 6 per cent, effective December 15, to rein in on inflation and to curb runaway credit flow, especially to the volatile capital markets. Call money market rates also hit a record high last month. Some banks have invested 75 per cent of their deposits in the stock market against a ceiling of 10 per cent and had been told to get back under the limit by December 30. This deadline has now been extended to January 15. Bangladesh police fired tear gas and water cannon to break up violent protests by investors on Monday after stock trading was halted for a second day when prices went into a free fall. The benchmark index shed 9.25 percent in less than an hour of trading, its steepest-ever slide. That followed a 6.7 percent drop on Sunday after the market had been battered for weeks. Hundreds of angry investors vandalised cars and blocked roads around the Dhaka Stock Exchange, the main bourse, before police moved in. Investors chanted slogans complaining of manipulation of stock prices by dishonest brokers and traders. Stock market executives and regulators declined to comment on the accusations but were due to give a news conference later in the day. Prices of shares have suffered a series of slides since early last month after the stock regulator and the central bank took measures to cool the market, prompting some street protests.

The stock market lurched into a deep crisis, as it suffered the biggest fall yesterday in its 55-year history despite market sweeteners from the regulator. The General Index of Dhaka Stock Exchange nosedived by 600 points or 7.75 percent to 7,135 at the end of yesterday's four-hour trading. The fall prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to ask the authorities concerned to find out the reasons behind the market instability. The directive came at a weekly cabinet meeting at the Bangladesh Secretariat with Hasina in the chair. "The prime minister has taken the issue seriously and directed us to look into it," a cabinet minister said after the meeting. Finance Minister AMA Muhith said efforts are underway to restore confidence to investors and urged them to have patience. The SEC has taken steps to give the most possible support to the investors, he said. The minister advised new investors to wise up to the price-earnings ratio of a company before putting money in it. He was briefing journalists at his residence in the capital. Muhith also warned that the government would not tolerate any vandalism or demonstration on the street over a fall in share prices.

The fall defied all measures by the regulator that either lifted or relaxed restrictions to boost the volatile market, which slumped for the fifth consecutive day yesterday. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in the morning that it had withdrawn the restriction on single-client credit exposure that previously allowed an investor to receive highest Tk 10 crore loan. The SEC also relaxed margin loan criteria for new investors making them eligible for share credit after 15 days, instead of 30 days, from the date of opening BO accounts. The decisions came at an SEC meeting, with its Chairman Ziaul Haque Khondker in the chair. Officials and merchant bankers of Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges were also present. Anwarul Kabir Bhuiyan, executive director and an SEC spokesperson, told journalists that the SEC also decided to allow Grameenphone shareholders to receive netting facilities from now. Yesterday's fall in share prices was even greater than the market crash in 1996 when the stocks plunged by highest six percent on a single-day. Market insiders have blamed the slump on liquidity constraints, a monetary tightening measure by the central bank to curb inflation. Many investors were caught in a price trap; those who bought shares at high prices were unwilling to sell them at a lower price. Besides, they were not confident enough to put fresh funds in the market that experienced sales pressure on profit taking. The credit providers could not extend additional loan facility to clients for costly borrowing with institutional investors sitting idle due to expensive liquidity in the money market. "Although the SEC relaxed and lifted some of its restrictions, they failed to stop the slide in share prices, mainly due to liquidity crisis," said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, professor of finance at Dhaka University. Moreover, retail investors withdrew several thousand crore taka to apply for the MobilJamuna IPO, he said. "It seems the retail investors panicked seeing the constant slump in the market," said Salahuddin, also a former DSE chief executive officer. With the market remaining volatile from the opening bell, additional police and Rab members were deployed in front of the DSE building to avoid any untoward incident.

A group of investors tried to bring out a procession on the Motijheel street. The law enforcers dispersed them and held an investor. Rab also detained Monjur Ahmed, special correspondent of Daily Prothom Alo, while he was covering the events at the DSE. He was released 20 minutes later. Retail investors in Sylhet took to the streets in the afternoon protesting the unusual fall in share prices, reports our Sylhet correspondent. They brought out two processions from the city's Zindabazar and the RN tower. The protesters paraded the main roads and dispersed at Chouhatta. JAN10*/

JAN 11 Thousands of angry investors vandalised cars, blocked roads around the country's main bourse and fought a violent battle with police following the collapse of the stockmarket yesterday. Share trading stopped only 50 minutes into the opening of transactions, when prices went into free fall. The regulator instructed the exchanges to suspend the trading after General Index of Dhaka Stock Exchange slumped by 660 points and Selective Categories Index of Chittagong Stock Exchange by 914 points. It was the steepest singled-day fall in the bourses' history. Dhaka-based retail investors attacked the office of the market regulator and staged demonstration in the bustling Motijheel area from Ittefaq crossing to Paltan crossing, Dilkusha area, Karwan Bazar and Mirpur. The mob vandalised some vehicles and set fire to tyres and wooden furniture stuff as they demonstrated in Motijheel area in the capital. Running battles between police and investors continued for hours. Police fired tear gas and baton-charged to disperse the agitators who were throwing brickbats at them. Some people were detained by law enforcers from Motijheel, but were later released.

Police even beat up at least four journalists near the DSE building. The journalists gathered there to cover the volatile share market. Protests broke out elsewhere in the country. Demonstrators in Chittagong, Comilla, Bogra and Narsingdi also brought out processions and demonstrated in protest at price fall and market closure, report our correspondents. The main opposition BNP expressed concern over the massive plunge of the capital market. BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, “Share market went into a nosedive in 1996 when the Awami League was in power. The market yesterday experienced record plunge in its history during the same government's tenure.” He was addressing a press conference at the party chairperson's Gulshan office while other senior leaders were present. They leaders demanded the government investigate whether “the money looted from the capital market were laundered abroad”. However, stock trading resumes at 11:00am today and will continue on schedule, the authorities said. The collapse prompted the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bangladesh Bank to take a series of measures in a desperate effort to cheer up investor spirits. As per the measures, the SEC increased margin loan ratio, withdrew the restriction on merchant banks' exposure to the stockmarket, allowed purchase of non-marginable securities using netting facilities and bring back 14 securities under public market trade instead of spot market trade. And the central bank relaxed some restrictions on the commercial banks' investment exposure to the stockmarket and advised the banks not to sell shares for the time being now. Yesterday's slump in share prices was even greater than the market crash in 1996 when the stocks plunged by highest six percent on a single day. A fund manger seeking anonymity said, "It's a result of collective greed." "Every investor is accusing the regulators of this situation, but no one blames him/herself for the greed or unjustified investment decision in an overheated market," he added. A former finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam at a discussion said the SEC should have taken measures to cool down the share prices while the prices were on the rise.

Bangladesh Bank should also have taken the regulatory steps earlier, he said. "Around two month ago in an informal meeting, I pointed out to the governor to see whether the bank is diverting the credit into the non-productive sector," said Islam, also a former chairman of the SEC. An asymmetric flow of information, high risk taking behaviour and irrational exuberance as well as pessimism were some of the main reasons of the price fall, said Islam. Another former SEC chairman Faruk Ahmed Siddiqi at the discussion said the drastic fall of the capital market could be avoided if the SEC and Bangladesh Bank could have moved to correct the price in September. DSE President Shakil Rizvi came down heavily on the institutional investors saying that they are not playing their due role. "The institutional investors also become greedy along with retail investors," he said. "Panic sales should be stopped first, and the government and the regulators should intervene in the market," said another fund manager. Although a correction in share prices was expected any time in last one year following abnormal rise in the market, insiders see the current situation due to liquidity crisis. The insiders said whatever the reasons behind the current downtrend are, the retail investors panicked; even the institutional investors felt the pressure for selling. “Once we were encouraged to invest in the market. Now I lost almost everything I had,” said Mamun, a retail investor. “Who will give my money back?” Thousands like him are asking the same question. For now, Shakil Rizvi has only two words for Mamun and others. JAN 12 Reversing the trend of the last few days, Dhaka stockmarket yesterday clocked a record 15 percent gain. The general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) stood at 7,512 points at the close of the day's trading, recouping 1,012 of 1,235 points it lost on the previous two days.

On Monday, the country's premier bourse suffered the steepest plunge in its 55-year history, prompting the regulator to suspend trading less than an hour after the start of transactions. Of the 243 issues traded yesterday, 195 hit the upper band in their prices and touched the circuit breaker, which does not allow price of a stock to go up or down by a certain limit for the day. The sprint left 80 percent of the traded securities without sellers for hours. Experts see the turnaround as a result of "life support" given by the government and the regulators after the stock index slumped by 660 points on Monday. In an effort to bring back confidence in the investors, Bangladesh Bank and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that day relaxed or reversed some of their decisions. In addition, the SEC yesterday withdrew the restrictions on mutual funds' exposure to the stockmarket. The mutual funds can now buy a single company's stock or invest in a particular sector without limits. Previously, they could not buy over 10 percent of a single company's stock or own over 25 percent of a particular sector. Institutional investors, particularly the commercial banks, are believed to have put buypressure on the market, BRAC-EPL, an investment firm, said in its routine analysis. Retail investors soon followed suit though there were not enough sellers. The unusually high buy-pressure pushed the index extremely higher early in the morning and kept it at that level for most of the day, it added. Due to the stalemate in the buy-sell, the single turnover was very low -- only Tk 977 crore. Experts, however, have doubts over sustainability of the market. "It seems the market has bounced back with an artificial life support, and the rise is not sustainable," said Mirza Azizul Islam, former finance adviser to caretaker government and former SEC chairman. Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, professor of finance at Dhaka University, said such jump in the index is undesirable. "It shows the investors are still not mindful of the market and the reality," said Salahuddin, who had also served as DSE's chief executive officer for five years.

An asset manager, who did not want to be named, said the regulators are injecting life elixir into the market to calm the nervous investors who had gone into a panic sale. But that does not mean the market should go through the roof on a single day, he added. “Both abnormal rise and fall are not good for the market." Other insiders, however, said the leap was expected following the regulatory steps. "Obviously, the investors will want the prices of the shares they hold to go to the level at which they bought those," said one. "Why will they sell the shares before that?" he asked. Meanwhile, investors demonstrated outside different merchant banks and offices of institutional stockbrokers, as they could not get credit for share purchase at 1:2 ratio determined by the regulator. Trading at Al-Arafah Islami Bank and IDLC Securities remained suspended for some time because of the agitation. Mercantile Bank and Prime Bank too saw demonstrations. The houses told the aggrieved investors that they did not have the capacity to provide loan at 1:2 ratio. Later, many banks and institutional stockbrokers agreed to give loan at a higher ratio though not at 1:2. JAN 12 The government is going to use index breaker in the share market to curb abnormal slumps and rises. A high-level meeting at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) discussed the matter yesterday. Meanwhile, member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Monsur Alam has been relieved of all responsibilities, finance ministry officials said. He is likely to lose his job as well. High officials of Bangladesh Bank and SEC met prime minister's economic affairs adviser Mashiur Rahman at the PMO yesterday evening. BB Governor Atiur Rahman and SEC Chairman Ziaul Haque Khondker and other high officials of the finance ministry and the central bank were present. Prime minister's advisor for establishment ministry HT Imam was also there. The meeting discussed the recent situation at the share market. On Monday the index fell by about 670 points. Yesterday the index shot up more than 1,000 points. The meeting observed that both were abnormal.

An official of the SEC told the meeting that in many countries, including the Mumbai and New York stock exchanges, there are breakers on index so that it cannot register abnormal ups or downs on a single day. The meeting told the SEC to see how it can impose the index breaker. The meeting also advised the SEC to strengthen monitoring of the capital market like the central bank does with the money market. If any irregularities or abnormality is detected in any bank the central bank immediately sends a team and takes necessary steps against the bank concerned after investigation. The SEC was told if any brokerage house, institutional investors or any listed company is found to be indulging in any irregularity, it should investigate and take instant action. Finance ministry officials said following investigation by an intelligence agency Monsur Alam has been relieved of all his responsibilities. The banking division of the ministry sent a letter to the SEC in this regard yesterday. He will verbally be asked to resign and if he does not he will be removed. JAN 17,

A leading state-owned commercial bank logged 136 percent higher profit last year from its investments in the capital market alone, compared with the previous year. Sonali Bank earned profits of Tk 177 crore in 2010 from its investments in the stockmarket, up from Tk 75 crore the previous year, its officials said. The bank's profit from other ventures increased 41 percent.

Alongside the private banks, all four state-owned commercial banks (SCB) made good profits last year, thanks to their investments in the share market. Janata Bank made the highest profit from the stock investments, followed by Agrani, the officials of SCBs said. A high official of Janata Bank said: “Our profit from stockmarket rose satisfactorily and we were also considerably successful in other banking businesses." "Deposit growth and loan disbursement increased and the number of loss-making branches decreased substantially.” The officials of the SCBs told The Daily Star that they made huge investments as institutional investors in 2010. Sonali Bank Chairman Kazi Baharul Islam said they got a big profit from share market. Their profit from other ventures was also considerable. Islam said he was the convener of the government reform committee for the SCBs. “We, the chairpersons and managing directors, frequently sat together and worked with a common approach. And so the SCBs made handsome profit even outside the stockmarket.” In 2010 four SCBs -- Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali -- increased their average operational profit by 48 percent to Tk 3,626 crore, which was Tk 2,442 crore the previous year. Sonali Bank's profit rose by 51 percent and stood at Tk 1,102 crore, Janata Bank's 40 percent to Tk 1,203 crore, Agrani's 67 percent to Tk 1,077 crore and Rupali's 17 percent to Tk 244 crore. An official of Sonali Bank said the banks took rather cautious steps while investing in the capital market. We have formulated a set of rules for judicious investment in the share market holding special board meetings, he said. In future, they will make investments in the share market after analysing the balance sheet, price-earning ratio, dividend and profitability of the company concerned. The SCB officials said they could cut the number of loss-making branches as their overall profit went up. Sonali Bank's loss-making branches came down to 90 in 2010 from last year's 180, while Rupali Bank's loss-incurring branches came down to 22 from 58 JAN 19,

Share trading on the Dhaka and Chittagong bourses was stopped one hour and 20 minutes ahead of schedule for the second time in eight days. The stockmarket regulator instructed the exchanges to suspend the trading after it predicted that the market would see a massive fall if the transactions continued. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) directive came following the General Index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DGEN) slumped 237 points and Selective Categories Index of Chittagong Stock Exchange by 298 points. "After seeing the downward trend in share prices, the commission directed the stock exchanges to stop share trading considering the retail investors' interest," Anwarul Kabir Bhuiyan, a spokesman and executive director of the SEC, told journalists. The free fall in share prices and the trading suspension also prompted several hundreds of retail investors to take position in front of DSE main building. The aggrieved investors, especially whose money got wiped out in the current bearish market, chanted slogans against the slump and top bosses of the regulators. "If I lose money by investing on junk shares, then it would be accepted. But, it is not acceptable when I lose money even after investing on strong fundamental securities," said Faisal Ahmed, an angry investor who was accompanied by similar others. "Who can explain the fall in the prices of good fundamental share?" he questioned, adding that there might be vested quarter that are trying to pull down the market so that they can buy shares at lower prices. "The regulator and the government should find out them through investigation, he said. The aggrieved investors, however, could not make large demonstration in the Motijheel street because of heavy presence of law enforcing agencies. The authorities said stock trading resumes at 11:00am today and will continue on schedule. Earlier on January 10, the SEC suspended share transaction within the opening 50 minutes of trade when the DGEN was down by 9 percent or 660 points. Although the stock indexes did not see a massive intra-day fall yesterday, the indices continued to fall for fourth consecutive session without any substantial sign of resistance. The benchmark index of the premier bourse lost 550 points in the last four trading days. Analysts said the current situation is mainly due to liquidity crisis in the secondary market.

Although the regulator hiked the margin loan ratio to 1:2 to increase liquidity flow, the credit providers are yet to provide share credit in line with the ratio, market insiders said. "Many investors were still waiting on sideline to see the stability of the current liquidity hungry volatile market behaviour," LankaBangla Securities, a leading stockbroker, said in its regular market analysis. "Consecutive falls made the investors nervous and induced panic sell while institutions remained inactive," the analysis said. Among the institutional investors, except the state-run Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, all were in selling mood.

Market shut, vehicles vandalized, JAN 20

Regulators yesterday introduced a share index breaker, halting trade on twin bourses one and a half hours after opening -- a quick and desperate measure that sent thousands of angry investors out on the streets in Motijheel. The index circuit breaker, which put brakes on a big rise or fall, was introduced following an emergency meeting among finance minister, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officials and central bank high ups. The meeting deferred trading on Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges by two hours to start at 1:00pm. As per the circuit breaker, trading stops automatically for the day if the DSE General Index (DGEN) goes up or down by 225 or more points. As for yesterday, the trading was stopped after the DGEN lost 226 points around 2:30pm. The declining trend for the last five days had the market lose 757 points. The investors, who were scared noticing no positive assurance from the government, demanded the market remain shut until the prime minister takes up the issue and comes up with a precise solution to restore normalcy in the market. VIOLENCE As transaction stopped around 2:30, investors streamed out nearly simultaneously of the brokerage houses and merchant banks in Motijheel area.

They vandalised hundreds of cars, set fire to furniture of makeshift shops blocking the road from Ittefaq intersection to Dainik Bangla intersection. Confronted, the agitated investors engaged into a violent battle with police. The investors also gathered at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Jibon Bima tower and chanted slogans demanding resignation of the finance minister, central bank governor, SEC chairman and DSE president. Law enforcers reached the scene in an hour and charged batons to disperse the investors. Police and the demonstrators threw brickbats on each other during the time. Chases and counter chases took place. Vehicular movement on the road gained normalcy after one and a half hours' turmoil, around 4:00pm. INVESTORS' DEMAND Many investors sought the prime minister's intervention for restoring ease in the market, which was witnessing a continuous downtrend since second week of this month. “All the steps taken by the regulators have failed to get any grip on the volatile market. The scenario will not change unless the prime minister looks into the matter directly,” said Sajjadul Hasan like many other investors. “We cannot bear losses any more…we are close to bankruptcy,” said frustrated investors. GOVERNMENT STEPS Apart from introducing index circuit breaker, the finance minister asked the SEC to carry out an investigation to identify the sellers who led the market towards instability. The SEC was also asked to suggest long and mid-term policies instead of short-term measures to maintain stability in the market. SEC officials said they will execute primary investigation on the basis of surveillance report, and form a probe committee if anomalies were found. The officials also said they will investigate the information regarding transaction of the current month. CENTRAL BANK'S 'IGN ORANCE' The officials present at the finance minister's meeting said the central bank has denied losing its grip on the money market, rather it would continue to follow a tightened monetary policy to keep banks risk free and check the rising inflation rates. There is no scope for relaxing the monetary policy even though the stock market has crashed, said the central bank in the meeting. It pointed fingers to the SEC behind the current situation saying the stock market is not a headache of the central bank but the SEC's.

EXPERTS' COMMENTS Market experts said the index circuit breaker will not help curbing the volatility in the markets and restore investors' confidence unless the liquidity inflow increases to support fresh buying. "It is not an effective solution. Introduction of the circuit breaker will result in fall in share prices, halting of trading and demonstrations," said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, a professor of finance at Dhaka University. Hasan Imam, chief executive of Race Asset Management Ltd, said the circuit breaker is just a tool to manage the market instability. "It must be used cautiously because it has some risks. If the circuit breaker is not used properly, it may deepen the panic among investors," he said. Others said no one is talking about the liquidity crunch in the market that is one of the major reasons behind the ongoing free fall in share prices. Unless the liquidity flow in creased into the market with a coordinated effort by all stakeholders including government and central bank, the market may not comeback to normalcy, they added. Share index breaker is far from enough: analysts, JAN 20 Stocks tumbled for the fifth straight session yesterday, thwarting the regulator's efforts to contain volatility and quashing the hope for a calm and confident market. The latest move -- the introduction of circuit-breaker, which halts the market if the index gains or loses more than 225 points -- also turned futile. Trading began two hours late and the plummeting stocks halted it within one and a half hours, after hitting the circuit-breaker threshold. Analysts said the circuit-breaker will not help control the volatility and restore confidence, unless liquidity inflow increases to support fresh buying. "It's not a solution. It's not an effective tool," said Yawer Sayeed, chief executive of AIMS, an asset manager. His remark came after the benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN) lost 226 points or 3.17 percent, amid panic sales. The slump made the investors violent on the streets again. "The result of the circuit-breaker will be nothing but protests, as you have seen today," said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, former chief executive of Dhaka Stock Exchange.

"It's not an effective solution. The circuit-breaker will result in decreased share prices," said Khan. "Such intermediate measures will not bring about effective results." Stocks lost 660 points on January 11 and a day later, it sprinted up 1,000 points or 15 percent on a stimulus from the regulator. But a freefall returned the next day as liquidity crunch kept institutional investors shy from buying. Many investors entered the market late, inspired by bubbling in share prices in the last one and a half years. Now their hopes of making easy money is shattered by the consistent downfall, as banks that had earlier fed the bubble amid slack regulatory monitoring started liquidating investments ahead of the year-end, and complied with tightened monetary policy of Bangladesh Bank. Khan said the slump brought another problem -- a confidence crunch. "It appears that the market is heading towards a crisis," he said, suggesting increased money flow. "Any intermediate step will not be effective. It will rather deepen the instability." Hasan Imam, chief executive of Race Asset Management Ltd, said the circuit-breaker is just one tool to manage the volatility. "It must be used carefully because it has some downsides. If the circuit-breaker is not used properly, it may intensify the panic," he said. Imam said the circuit-breaker may not bring stability unless the liquidity crunch is addressed.

Stock efforts fall apart,JAN 21 The share index breaker failed to prevent a free fall in prices on the Dhaka and the Chittagong stock exchanges yesterday. The Dhaka stock index had nosedived 600 points before the just-introduced circuit breaker put a stop to trading on the two bourses. The latest fall prompted the Securities and Exchange Commission to keep trading shut on Sunday and suspend trading activities of six stockbrokers, their managing directors and chief executive officers for 30 days.

The stockmarket regulator also postponed the book building method for initial public offering after a strong criticism for the system's misuse by some issuer companies. The stockmarkets saw the share prices slump five minutes into the start of trading. Trading on the Dhaka and Chittagong bourses started at 1:00pm, instead of 11:00am, in line with a decision of the Securities and Exchange Commission that approved a DSE proposal to cut the transaction period by two hours for now. The circuit breaker, introduced on Wednesday, was meant to stop the trading after the General Index went down by 225 points but the breaker's manual operating system failed to do that. Panic sell-offs by nervous investors triggered the slump, the quickest in the history of Bangladesh's capital market. Angry investors took to the streets and vented their frustration on passing vehicles after the market was shut for the day. They clashed with law enforcers in the financial district of Motijheel. Investors, who trade from other areas including Dhanmondi and Mirpur in the capital, also clashed with police. Clashes were also reported in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet, where investors took part in trade through brokers. With yesterday's slump, the DGEN came down to 6,326 points, the lowest in six months. The downward trend made the market lose nearly 1,350 points in the last six days. Market experts put the declining trend down to the liquidity crunch in the secondary market. But the situation has worsened for lack of confidence among investors. The retail investors got panicked seeing no positive impacts of the regulator's measures on the market. "Liquidity flow is slowly coming back to the market. But the main problem is to bring back confidence among investors. It should be the main focus now," said Akter Hossain Sannamat, managing director of Prime Finance and Investment. Others say coordinated measures from the government, the regulator and stakeholders can help the market overcome the current situation. Angry investors said they had no option but to take to the streets to see their capital shrink in the last few days.

"My portfolio value has come down to almost zero. It is driving me crazy," said a bewildered Shipon Chowdhury, who lost Tk 5 lakh in the last two days. Many others said they now want the prime minister's intervention as the measures taken by the regulator have failed to have a grip on the volatile market. The DSE said the government should punish the persons involved in the stockmarket manipulation. DSE President Shakil Rizvi said the government has little to do with the share prices that depend on many other variables. But it can punish anyone for violating the law. "A crisis has arisen for diversion of funds from the market. But the market will rebound soon," he said. Within the five minutes, the premier bourse traded more than 58.76 lakh shares and mutual fund units on a value of Tk 68 crore. Losers outnumbered gainers 172 to 8, with two securities remaining unchanged on the DSE. Meanwhile, small investors called a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Sylhet for Sunday to protest the recent fall in prices on the DSE, reports UNB. Mashiur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's economic affairs adviser, however, was highly critical of the street demonstration by the investors following nosedive of share prices urging all to resist them. When pointed to the drastic fall, he said there is a pressure on the market, as some investors want windfall gain overnight. Mashiur was speaking to reporters after inaugurating a flood protection project in Khulna. According to him, the money pulled in the share market never came to the real investment in the industry. “So there is no immediate impact of it,” the news agency quoted him as saying.

Stock probe, reforms to top agenda,JAN 23 The government sits with stakeholders today to find ways to help stocks bounce back from the current slump and take steps to reform the markets.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith will preside over the meeting with officials of Securities and Exchange Commission, Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges, two former SEC chairmen and representatives of brokerage houses at state guesthouse Padma, said finance ministry officials. Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Adviser Mashiur Rahman said the finance minister would discuss the present situation with the stakeholders. It will help the government know about the facilities or reforms required to boost the stockmarket, Rahman told reporters after a programme organised by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh at Banani in Dhaka. The country's apex trade body -- Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) -- sat at the Westin hotel last night and prepared a set of recommendations to present to the finance minister at today's meeting. Top officials of the chamber, SEC, two bourses, bankers, merchant bankers and publiclylisted companies' association, attended the two-hour meeting. Their recommendations include: Companies that saw their prices slump must buy back their stocks; the regulator must find and punish the culprits responsible for the crisis; the last four years' earnings of merchant banks must be reinvested into the market; and the SEC must find out how three companies entered the market through direct listings by breaching rules and reportedly made away with Tk 1,500 crore, said a businessman, who was present at the meeting. Meanwhile, experts suggested formation of a high-level probe committee to look into what went wrong in the stockmarket, and restore confidence to the investors. The committee will try to find out who were responsible for the recent crash in the market, determine how much the stock index can go up, and how much a share price can rise, they said. The committee will also see whether the central bank and the SEC had any flaw on their part in the recent fall, they said. Given the depth of the country's capital market, according to an unofficial study of the central bank, the share market index can reach a maximum of 6,000 points, whereas the benchmark General Index on the Dhaka Stock Exchange came close to 9,000 points. Examples in many countries show that if the index goes up beyond the depth of the market, the index is bound to plummet. In Bangladesh, the rise in the index was due to arrival of many new companies. In 2009, SEC approved issuance of shares worth Tk 750 crore. Till October 12 of last year, shares worth Tk 4,063 crore were approved, which was about 441 percent higher than in the same month of the previous year. Share prices jumped many times.

Circuit breaker redesigned, JAN 25

The stockmarket regulator has revised the disputed circuit breaker system which controls the prices of individual shares from going up or down by a certain limit. The upward or downward price-limits on individual securities were reduced to half in an effort to check any abnormal rise or fall in share prices on a single trading day. The new limits, decided by the Securities and Exchange Commission, will be effective from today, as the markets resume. Also, SEC decided not to cancel or postpone the initial public offerings of Mobil Jamuna Lubricants Bangladesh and MI Cement Factory that are using the book building method suspended by the government. In consultation with the government, the regulator took the decision yesterday, as sponsor directors of the companies promised to buy the shares back, if the prices go below offer prices within the first 30 days after listing. Earlier, the twin IPOs attracted criticism from market experts, analysts and stakeholders, who said the companies inflated their IPO prospectus figures and made the indicative prices higher. According to the revised circuit breaker system, a share worth up to Tk 200 cannot rise or fall by 10 percent (not exceeding Tk 17.5) on a single day, which was earlier 20 percent (not exceeding Tk 35). For shares ranging between Tk 201 and Tk 500, prices cannot go up or down by 8.75 percent or Tk 37.50, instead of 17.50 percent or Tk 75. The limit is 7.5 percent or Tk 112.50 for shares with prices between Tk 501 and Tk 1,000, which previously was 15 percent or Tk 125. Stocks with prices ranging between Tk 1,001 and Tk 2,000 cannot increase or decrease by 6.25 percent or Tk 100, as against previous 12.5 percent or Tk 200. The price cannot rise or fall by 5 percent or Tk 187.50, instead of 10 percent or Tk 375, if share value ranges between Tk 2,001 and Tk 5,000.

The limit is 3.75 percent or Tk 300 for shares worth Tk 5,001 and above, which previously was 7.5 percent or Tk 600.

Stock trade resumes today, JAN 25

Stock trade resumes today after a two-day shutdown amid hopes for a rebound in share prices. Regulators suspended transactions for Sunday and Monday in an effort to allow the markets some relief from fallout from the market crash. The twin bourses reopen as usual at 11:00am to continue to 3:00pm. Both institutional and retail investors are optimistic about a comeback of the market. "I hope the market will start recovering after it reopens," said an investment banker. "With efforts underway, there is a possibility of a turnaround of the market," said Zakirul Karim Imran, a retail investor. Stock probe underway, JAN 26 The government yesterday formed a three-member committee headed by Krishi Bank Chairman Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled to probe the massive ups and downs in the stockmarket in the last two years. Names of the other two members of the committee and terms of reference (TOR) will be announced today. The probe body will have to submit its report within three months. Finance Minister AMA Muhith announced this to journalists after a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in the capital. In a related development, the government yesterday made Securities and Exchange Commission's executive director Anwarul Karim Bhuiyan an officer on special duty. Earlier, he had been transferred from the surveillance department, which monitors markets, to comparatively less important administrative division of the SEC. The finance minister said primarily two persons were selected for the probe committee but they were dropped for their involvement in the share market.

The probe body has been entrusted with 11 tasks that include finding out if any individual or group had influenced the market or taken any undue advantages, said a finance ministry official. Muhith said the committee can have more members and start work even today, if it wants. He reiterated his claim that no money was drained out of the market, which is contrary to the belief of many including market analysts and observers. “It is absurd… the money is in the market; it did not fly abroad,” Muhith observed. Ibrahim Khaled, a former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, has served as managing director of several public and private banks including Sonali and Agrani banks. He also worked as the chairman and member of several committees including the one on banking sector reforms and curbing the effects of trade unionism. The reports submitted by these committees were much-talked about. Contacted, Ibrahim said he has not received any letter about his heading the probe body, and he does not know anything about its TOR. PROBE BODY TOR The finance ministry has already prepared the TOR for the probe committee. According to the TOR, the committee will find the causes behind the massive overpricing of shares over the last two years. It will also identify people and institutions that withdrew unusually high amount of money taking advantage of the overpriced market through direct listing, book building and fixed price. The role of issue manager, regulatory body, audit firm and asset valuer and company will also be looked into. It will investigate how small investors were affected by purchasing shares of the issuer company in the case of initial public offering (IPO). It will review overall liquidity situation and see if the SEC had sufficient efficiency and experience. The committee will evaluate infrastructure and governance of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE). It will also see if the existing laws and rules to regulate the capital market are appropriate and whether steps taken by the SEC against the backdrop of the volatile situation were right. It will investigate whether banks, financial institutions, merchant banks, brokerage houses and listed companies were involved in activities aimed at disrupting normal operation of the markets and creating instability.

The committee will review the nature of the continuous upward trend in the capital market, give solutions to make the stockmarket sustainable, and determine the nature of overpricing. It will also review comparative earnings from investment in the banks and government savings instruments in early 2010 and earnings from long-term investment in the capital market. The committee will find out the short-term buyers and sellers in the market, instead of long-term investors, and the nature of their transactions. It will identify this group of people or institutions, find out the amount of money they transact, and their way of influencing the market. In the last two years the share market saw a huge rise. When the present government assumed power in January 2009, the share price index was at 2,729 and the transaction in the market was Tk 379 crore. In January 2010, the share price index was at 4,708 and in December it reached nearly 9,000. In January 2011, the market saw a big turmoil. On one occasion, the main index of Dhaka bourse fell 600 points in just five minutes, resulting in the instant stoppage of trading. Small investors launched a massive agitation. The finance minister held several meetings with stakeholders and the government policymakers before formation of the probe committee. Stock trading on the two bourses resumed yesterday after a two-day suspension this week. The troubled market started climbing yesterday with around 75 percent of the traded stocks getting their highest intra-day gain. DSE General Index jumped up 494 points, or 7.8 percent, finishing the four-hour trading session at 6,821 points. Institutional investors joined the race in the opening few minutes but they stayed away from it seeing the stalemate in the buy-sell, insiders said, adding that over 90 percent of the transactions were done by retail investors. The benchmark index gained 7.8 percent only as individual company circuit breaker was reduced by half. Of the 258 securities traded on the premier bourse, 191 hit the upper price ceiling, which stops stock prices from going too much up or down in one day. At the end of the day, gainers outnumbered losers 248 to 10.

Due to the stalemate in the buy-sell, the single turnover was very low, only Tk 206 crore on transactions of only 1.88 crore shares and mutual fund units. Chittagong stocks also posted a sharp rise as in Dhaka. The Selective Categories Index of the Chittagong Stock Exchange jumped 687 points, 5.7 percent, to reach 12,707. Advancers outnumbered the losers 174 to 19 with five securities unchanged on the port city bourse. It traded more than 54.32 lakh shares and mutual fund units with a value of Tk 52.81 crore. Stocks perk up, value runs low, JAN 26 Stock trading on the twin bourses resumed yesterday and reversed the downtrend after nearly 75 percent of the traded stocks clocked their highest intra-day gain on the board. But the value was low, as there were few sellers. Transactions remained suspended for the last two days in the backdrop of a heavy slump in prices in the previous week. The General Index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) jumped up 494 points, or 7.8 percent, finishing the four-hour session at 6,821 points. Institutional investors joined the race in the opening few minutes, but stayed away later as they observed the stalemate in the buy-sale, market insiders said. It was a day for retail investors, who took up more than 90 percent of the transactions. optimism surfaced among investors as the regulator amended a string of rules prescribed by the government. The government sat with stakeholders, central bank and Securities and Exchange Commission on several occasions to bring back normalcy. “The market reacted positively as almost all the companies hit the upper limit of their individual circuit breaker -- last time that happened on January 11 with the DGEN gaining 15.6 percent,” BRAC-EPL, an investment firm, said in its regular market analysis. But small investors greeted yesterday's jump with suspicion, saying it was "abnormal" and "engineered". "There are no sellers , which is taking the market to abnormal heights. I think manipulators are at it again. They are just fooling us,” said an investor, asking not to be named.

The benchmark index gained 7.8 percent only as the individual company circuit breaker was reduced by half. Of the 258 securities on DSE yesterday, 191 hit the upper-band and touched the circuit breaker, which does not allow prices of a stock to go up or down by a certain limit for the day. At the end , gainers outnumbered losers 248 to 10. The sprint left 75 percent of the traded securities without sellers for hours. Due to the stalemate in the buy-sale, the single day turnover was very low -- only Tk 206 crore -- on transactions of only 1.88 crore shares and mutual fund units. Market insiders said the stalemate also prompted almost all the institutional investors to stay inactive, both in terms of buying and selling, for most of the trading hours. “It was natural. Obviously, the retail investors will want the prices to go to the level at which they bought those,” said a high official of an investment bank. The investment banker predicted that the stalemate will come to an end today, and institutional investors will be active. News agency AFP quoted Mahmud Osman, a professor of finance at Dhaka University, as saying the market's behaviour remained "abnormal". "The gains do not show that normality has returned. The volume of sales has reached a two-year low and some weaker stocks have also gained along with fundamentally strong companies," he said. "It shows investors' ambivalence about the reform package." Conditions for a crash have been building for some time, experts say, as the number of retail investors nearly doubled over the past 15 months to 3.3 million. Chittagong stocks also posted a sharp rise. Its Selective Categories Index jumped 687 points or 5.7 percent to 12,707. The port city bourse traded more than 54.32 lakh shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 52.81 crore. Optimism lifts stocks, JAN 27 Analysts say risks are far from over

Stocks rebounded for the second day amid optimism that support from market intermediaries and the government would continue.

Indices bounced more than 400 points shortly after opening of trade yesterday, as prices of shares started hitting the days' highest limits, spurred by a mood to retain shares to get better returns or minimise losses from the previous free-fall. The upbeat mood continued through the day, allowing the benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN) to cross the 7,000 mark, or above the level registered before the quick plunge on January 19-20. The DSE General Index (DGEN) surged 458.93 points or 6.72 percent to 7280.01, reflecting a 15 percent rise since the January 20 level. The markets are yet to return to normal. Rather such a free ride in share prices might again be risky, analysts said. "A 6-7 percent variation in index for a day shows that the market is highly unstable," said Mirza Azizul Islam, former chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He said the consistent spike in share prices is not a good sign. "It appears that investors have not learnt the lesson. Prices of almost all the shares are going up. But experienced investors should now be able to discriminate between issues," he said. "There are still reasons to be apprehensive," he said. On the day, turnover almost trebled to Tk 587 crore yesterday from Tk 206 crore a day ago, due to increased participation of institutional investors. Bangladesh Bank continued to relaxed grips on liquidity to help merchant banks and other intermediaries recover from the fund crunch. Analysts linked the post-debacle rebound to the gradual restoration of confidence among investors who banked on hopes that government would maintain its support to stabilise the market. "The next week is a test case. It cannot be said that the market has become stable until there is a significant rise in transaction volume," said Mahmood Osman Imam, professor of finance at Dhaka University. One positive sign is that turnover has increased. "The rise in turnover reflects that the market is moving towards normalcy," he said. On the day, prices of 89 percent out of 256 issues traded advanced. Some 25 slipped and three closed unchanged at the Dhaka Stock Exchange, the main bourse. Beximco ruled the turnover board followed by state-run Titas Gas, National Bank Ltd, telecom giant Grameenphone and Bextex, a concern of Beximco Group.

BEXIMCO gained 8.68 percent to Tk 309.10. The remaining four issues on the turnover board also ended higher. The latest recovery in share prices also pulled the market capitalisation above the level of January 20, the day the DSE recorded the quickest ever slide. In the past two days' turnaround, market capitalisation increased by Tk 35,473 crore to Tk 319,084 crore. Yawer Sayeed, chief executive of asset management firm AIMS of Bangladesh said investors are regaining confidence, but there are risk factors. Many investors are still on the sidelines and are observing the market movement, he said. Indices on the Chittagong Stock Exchange also went up. Of the issues traded, 174 rose, 13 lost and 10 finished unchanged.

Stocks finish up as jitters ease, JAN 28 Optimism capped a truncated trading week in the stockmarket yesterday after share prices showed clear signs of a rebound. The General Index of Dhaka Stock Exchange rose by 105 points, or 1.45 percent, to 7,385 at the end of the four-hour trading session, while the Selective Categories Index on Chittagong Stock Exchange gained 71 points, or 0.52 percent, to 13,562. Market analysts said buyers and sellers were quite vibrant at bargain hunting, breaking the turnover impasse of the preceding couple of days. The day's turnover increased by 75 percent to Tk 1,030 crore, reflecting the normal liquidity behaviour of the market, LankaBangla Securities, the leading stockbroker, said in its regular analysis. "In the two previous trading sessions, the index increased 953 points with substantially low turnover and volume level as most of the investors were sitting on the red zone of their portfolio and also reluctant to offload their shares at marginal or no significant discount compared with the buy price," the analysis said. "Many investors offloaded the shares after considerable deliberations while many took position in corrected stocks anticipating healthy bottom-line growth and corporate declaration in the coming months," it said.

Merchant bankers, who sat yesterday afternoon to review the last three days' market experience among themselves, said the liquidity crisis was easing and its reflection was evident in turnover. The market also behaved quite normally. “Retail investors showed relatively matured behaviour in the last three days which indicates a restoration in their confidence," Sheikh Mortuza Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Merchant Bankers' Association said after the meeting. The scenario might even turn better in the coming days, hoped Ahmed, also the chief of Prime Bank Investment Ltd, a subsidiary of Prime Bank. On the trading floor of the premier bourse, advancers beat losers 139 to 115 with three securities unchanged. More than 8.36 crore shares and mutual fund units changed hands.

Stocks get off to a nervy start, JAN 31 Stocks opened the week in the black in step with the previous three days' recovery in prices that witnessed a massive decline during the recent debacle. The general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DGEN) gained 186 points, or 2.5 percent, to 7,572, while the selective categories index of Chittagong Stock Exchange jumped 333 points, or 2.4 percent, to 13,896. The indices started rising Tuesday, when the market resumed after a two-day shutdown. The DGEN advanced 1,246 points in the last four trading sessions, showing signs of recovery. Although many buyers took a "wait and see" approach to see the stability of the jittery pattern and many, including institutional investors, were becoming active gradually, insiders said. Still, it would not be wise to make specific comments on the market behaviour and the market should be observed carefully for more days, said one of the insiders. Financial sectors were the big movers yesterday -- banks gained 1.7 percent on average, while non-bank financial institutions jumped 4.3 percent, general insurances 3.7 percent and life insurances 2.4 percent. Fuel and power companies advanced 2 percent and pharmaceuticals 1.2 percent. By contrast, the telecom sector, with lone GP, declined slightly by 0.5 percent.

Advancers beat losers 225 to 33, with three securities remaining unchanged on the DSE, which traded more than 8.1 crore shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 1,002 crore. On the CSE, 165 increased and 24 declined, with six remained unchanged.

Stocks edge up in choppy trade, FEB 3

After two days' correction in share prices, the stockmarket experienced a roller-coaster ride throughout trading hours yesterday. At the end, however, the general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange rose slightly by 28 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,309. Stockbrokers said the market swung from red to green as investors seemed to be carefully watching and waiting before making entries into the market. The investors' mood was reflected at the turnover level, as both institutions and small investors took conservative steps. The day's turnover on the premier bourse came down by around 21 percent to Tk 741 crore, on transactions of more than 5.69 crore shares and mutual fund units. Gains in the banks, which saw a 2.08 percent rise on average, and non-bank financial institutions, which registered a 0.52 percent rise, compensated for the loss in all other sectors, including 0.52 percent in the telecom, 0.66 percent in pharmaceuticals, 0.73 percent in power, 1.67 percent in general insurance and 0.46 percent in life insurance. Losers beat advancers 182 to 67, with seven securities remaining unchanged on the board. National Bank topped the list of turnover with 42.15 lakh shares worth Tk 73 crore being traded.

Chittagong stocks marked a fall yesterday, with the selective categories index of Chittagong Stock Exchange declining 22 points, or 0.17 percent, to 13,467. Losers beat advancers 129 to 48, with six securities remaining unchanged on the port city bourse, which traded more than 80.91 crore shares and mutual fund units on a value of Tk 92 crore. National Bank also topped the list of turnover on the CSE with 6.09 lakh shares worth Tk 10.63 crore being traded.

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