Stocks return to green zone

Frustrated at the continuous fall in share prices, a group of retail
investors on Monday staged a demonstration in front of the Dhaka
Stock Exchange building. Dhaka stocks, however, made some recovery
in the late trading with DSE general index finishing with a 13.71-
point gain on institutional buying, market operators said. The
market has been witnessing a downward trend this month after a rapid
growth in the last couple of months. The group of retail investors
gathered in front of the DSE building at about 11:30am and agitated
on the road for about half an hour, witnesses said. The
demonstrators demanded that the authorities should take steps to
arrest any further slide in share prices in the market, the
witnesses said. They blamed 'intervention' by the Bangladesh Bank and
the Securities Exchange Commission, the stock market regulator, for
the slide. Stock market analysts attributed the downtrend to the
investors' 'wait-and-see' policy amid dropping of fund flow to the
market after regulators' 'intervention'. They said the regulators'
move was a reason for squeezing loans by merchant banks. The
Bangladesh Bank recently asked all banks to submit monthly reports on
their stock portfolios, following some allegations of irregularities
in share business. The monthly reports must be submitted within seven
days of a month to the department of off-sight supervision of the
central bank on a regular basis. The market analysts said the
downtrend in the market prompted a section of large-volume traders to
remain inactive and retail investors to sell off their shares for
cash to be used in applying for the initial public offerings next
month. From July 2 to July 26, DSE general index lost 240.14
points, or 7.82 per cent, to close at 2,829. 57. On Monday, DSE
general index gained 0.48 per cent, to finish at 2,843.28. Of the
total 238 issues traded, 164 advanced, 66 declined and eight remained
unchanged. Turnover at the DSE dropped to Tk 398.03 crore from the
Sunday's Tk 462.73 crore. A team comprises representatives from
SEC, DSE and Chittagong Stock Exchange today will hold a meeting
with the Bangladesh Bank at the central bank's building in Dhaka to
exchange views on current stock market situation, said a senior
official of the DSE.