DSE trade halted on tech glitch

A technical glitch forced suspension of share trade on the premier
bourse for more than two hours yesterday. The trading, which usually
continues from 10 :00 am to 2 :00 pm everyday, came to a halt from 1
:35 pm to 3 : 45 pm. However, it resumed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange
at 3 :45 pm and closed at 4 :00 pm. DSE's Chief Technology Officer
ASM Khairuzzaman informed journalists that the trade stopped because
of a problem in the trading server, which was pointed out by some
brokerage houses. These houses complained that they were not
receiving trading confirmation from the main server, Khairuzzaman
said. Meanwhile, stocks finished in the red for a third straight day.
Benchmark index of the prime bourse, DSE General Index, fell by 48.89
points, or 1.64 percent to 2 , 917.06. The DSE All Share Price
Index also dropped by 40.96 points, or 1.64 percent to 2 , 442.85.
The losers beat the advancers 179 to 45. Three securities remained
unchanged. A total of 3 ,38 ,65 ,108 shares worth Tk 561.65 crore
were traded on the DSE. Beximco topped the turnover leaders, with 18
,98 ,900 shares worth Tk 57.51 crore being traded, followed by Titas
Gas, AB Bank, Summit Power, Beximco Pharma, Grameen Mutual Fund One:
Scheme Two, LankaBangla Finance, Rupali Life Insurance and AIMS 1 st
Mutual Fund. Chittagong stocks also fell yesterday. The CSE
Selective Categories Index slid by 103.99 points, 1.6 percent to 6
, 357.09. The CSE All Share Price Index also declined by 172.73
points, or 1.67 percent to 10 , 138.38. A total of 56 ,53 ,376
shares worth Tk 75 crore changed hands on the Chittagong Stock
Exchange. Of the traded securities, 21 advanced, 123 declined and
three remained unchanged. AB Bank topped the turnover leaders on the
port city bourse with 1 ,11 ,290 shares worth Tk 11.42 crore being
traded. Other turnover leaders were Beximco, Beximco Pharma, Rupali
Life Insurance, Bextex, Grameen Mutual Fund One: Scheme Two, Titas
Gas, AIMS 1 st Mutual Fund, LankaBangla Finance and Shinepukur
Ceramics.

SEC sets lock-in to discipline market by Sarwar A Chowdhury

The stock market regulator has introduced a lock-in period barring
sales of new convertible shares or shares against warrants issued by
a listed company. From now, there will be a three-year lock-in for
directors or those who hold 5 percent or more shares. It means
shareholders and investment companies will not be able to sell the
shares they possess in a listed company within three years from the
issuance of securities. For others, Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) has set one year as the lock-in time. "The lock-in
shall also be applicable in case of issuance of equity security
against loan or debt security having no predetermined conversion
feature if such equity security is not issued at a price equal to
last six months' weighted average market price at the stock
exchange(s)," the SEC said. The market watchdog imposed such
conditions in a gazette notification that came into effect from
Sunday. In the notification, the SEC said the commission introduced
the lock-in system to protect the "interest of investors, capital
and securities markets". The lock-in will also be applicable for
companies that have already received nod from the commission for
issuing new shares or convertible securities, and equity shares
against loan or debt security. The SEC introduced the lock-in
following media reports on a DSE investigation that a foreign
investment firm had entered into a share subscription deal with a
locally listed company, Bangladesh Thai Aluminium ( BD Thai), without
any lock-in. Lock-in is a measure by which investment companies are
barred from selling before a certain time the shares they possess.
But, taking the opportunity of absence of the lock-in, the foreign
firm, GEM Global Yield Fund, bought a huge chunk of shares against
warrants and dumped almost all the shares within one and a half
months of acquisition. The foreign firm thus repatriated $2 million
from Bangladesh capital market, according to the DSE probe report,
which was submitted to the SEC for necessary actions. Earlier the
lock-in system had been in place for all companies -- both foreign
and local -- to avert short-term speculative trading, and flight of
cap