Banks not to increase capital market exposure

Dhaka, May 3: Senior officials of the private and state-owned banks which have merchant banking and brokerage operations on Monday said that the banks would not increase their stock market exposure due to liquidity crisis they are facing currently.

They admitted of liquidity crisis at a meeting with the board of directors of the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

'We wanted to know the condition of the liquidity of the banks and whether they have any plan to increase their participation in the stock market,' said a director of the bourse present in the meeting.

 He said the bankers informed the bourse that the price hike of food items and raw materials in the international market put the banks in a liquidity shortage.

'For an instance, as the price of cotton has increased in the international market, banks have to provide their clients with more funds for buying cotton,' he said.

'The bankers said they would go with a wait-and-see policy about the capital market because of the shortage of liquidity and uncertainty about the future course of the capital market,' the director added.

Source: New Age

Dhaka stocks down on poor corporate disclosers

Dhaka, May 3: Dhaka stocks on Monday dropped for the third consequent day on a mild selling pressure triggered by poor corporate disclosers by a number of companies on the day, market operators said.

They said investors also remained uncertain about the market trend after the government on Thursday had made public the probe report on the January's stock market scam.

The general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, or DGEN, lost 59.46 points, or 0.98 per cent, to close the day at 5,991.38 points.

Turnover on the bourse on Monday also declined to Tk 509.49 crore from Thursday's Tk 666.45 crore. 

Of the 248 issues traded on the day, 58 advanced, 183 declined, and seven remained unchanged.

An official of a brokerage house said dividends declared by 27 companies failed to stimulate the general investors.

'Investors considered the dividends poor and went for sell-offs on the day,' he said.

Investors are still waiting to see the impacts of the government decisions on the market after the finance minister made the probe report public on Thursday and announced a list of actions the government plans to take, a DSE stockbroker said.

'A section of general and institutional investors remained inactive on the day,' he added. 

Trading on the DSE started on a positive note on the day, with the index gaining 23 points in the first five minutes of the trading. But the DGEN had fluctuated frequently for the next one hour, before ending the day in the negative zone.

The companies which declared dividends on Monday were Renata, Aramit Cement, Information Services Network, Kay & Que, Ibn Sina, Golden Son, Rangpur Foundry, BD-Thai Aluminum, Monno Jute Stafflers, CMC Kamal, Aramit, Ambee Pharma, KPCL, Beach Hatchery, Sonar Bangla Insurance, Provati Insurance, Global Insurance, Phoenix Insurance, Beximco Synthetic, Bextex, Shinepukur Ceramics, Rupali Insurance, Beximco, and Standard Insurance.

Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, a Dhaka University finance teacher, said, 'Although it was expected that the market would gain after the government's move on the probe report but it seemed investors were cautious about the impacts of the move.'

Stock market analyst Akter H Sannamat said, 'It seems investors were unhappy with a number of corporate results, resulting in a fall in the share prices on Monday.'

Source: New Age