Dhaka Stock Exchange’s president Rakibur Rahman on Wednesday said that an ‘intervention’ by the central bank in the share market resulted in a downtrend in recent days.

‘A recent excessive intervention by the Bangladesh Bank has pushed the market into a downtrend,’ said DSE president at a briefing after a meeting with National Board of Revenue chairman Nasir Uddin Ahmed Choudhury at the bourse’s board room.

‘The Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulator of the capital market, can intervene if necessary. Bangladesh Bank should not meddle in,’ he said. ‘None should go beyond jurisdiction,’ he said, adding ‘Intervention in the market is not a job of Bangladesh Bank.’

The DSE president said turnover and stock prices at the bourse were continuously falling due to the latest initiative of the central bank. Dhaka stocks fell on Wednesday for the fourth consecutive day with DSE general index shedding 33.70 points on the day. DSE turnover dropped to Tk 490.02 crore on Wednesday from Tk 1,149.71 crore, its historic high, reached on July 2. On Tuesday, the DSE turnover was Tk 561.65 crore.

The Bangladesh Bank recently asked all banks to submit monthly reports on their stock portfolios, following some allegations of irregularities in share business. Banks from now on must submit detailed information about their stock portfolios by categories of purchase, mortgage, and deposit, according to a BB circular that has already been issued to the chief executives of all banks.

The monthly reports must be submitted within seven days of the next month to the department of off-sight supervision of Bangladesh Bank on a regular basis. ‘In the meeting, we have discussed the tax-related issues and on possible modalities of investment of undisclosed money in the share market,’ said Rakibur.

On Wednesday, DSE general index lost 1.16 per cent to close at 2,883.36. DSE20 index of blue chips shed 109.64 points, or 4.71 per cent, to finish at 2,219.78 due to price adjustment of the shares of Islami Bank on its ex-dividend trading, market operators said.

A DSE stockbroker said the market was continuously falling as investors remained worried after a volatile trend in the last week and a downtrend this week. DSE indices were also adjusted due to price adjustment of Islami Bank Bangladesh and Mudaraba Perpetual Bond of IBBL after corporate benefits, he said. Of the total 227 issues traded on Wednesday, 114 advanced, 99 declined and 14 remained unchanged.

Beximco topped the turnover leader with a total transaction of Tk 34.83 crore. Titas Gas, AB Bank, Grameen Two Mutual Fund, BD Online, BATBC, Aims 1st Mutual Fund, Islami Bank, Bextex and Beximco Pharmaceuticals were the rest of the top 10 turnover leaders on the day.

-New Age