Institutional investors should be key stocks traders: Salman F Rahman

Prime minister’s private industry and investment adviser Salman F Rahman, also vice-chairman of Bangladesh Export Import Company, speaks at a programme on the debut trading of BEXIMCO’s green Sukuk Al Istisna’a at the DSE office premises at Nikunj in Dhaka on Thursday. Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, DSE chairman Md Eunusur Rahman and DSE managing director Tarique Amin Bhuiyan were present on the occasion. — New Age photo

The institutional investors should dominate trading activities in place of retail ones for reducing volatility on the country’s stock market, said Salman F Rahman, private industry and investment adviser to prime minister and vice-chairman of Bangladesh Export Import Company.

He made the comment at a programme on the debut trading of BEXIMCO’s green Sukuk Al Istisna’a at DSE’s office premises at Nikunj in Dhaka.Earlier on July 8, 2021, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission gave the final approval to BEXIMCO for issuing Tk 3,000 crore Shariah-compliant green Sukuk. On its debut trading day, prices of the Sukuk increased by 1 per cent to close at Tk 101 each.

Salman said that the country’s stock market has structural defects including that it is retail based one and participation of institutions in the market are very minimal. ‘Participation of institutional investors in matured markets is very high, but we see opposite on our market that results in significant volatility on the market,’ he said.

Brokerage houses should act as real institutions and adopt corporate culture to gain trust of the retail investors for managing their portfolios, he said. Another problem of the market is that it is an equity-based market where debt market is rarely visible, he said. ‘The BSEC is working to introduce various products on the market, but we need more innovative products like Sukuk to address banks’ interest rate sensitivity,’ Salman said.

Stock market starts on positive note

Dhaka stocks soared on the first trading day in 2022 as investors went for buying shares heavily with expectation of better trend on the market in the new year.

DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, gained 1.42 per cent, or 96.48 points, to close at 6,853.13 points on Sunday after gaining 25.5 points in the previous session.

The market began  on high note and continued with the momentum until the end of the session as a section of investors went for heavy buying on the first trading day of 2022, market operators said. Investors expected that the market might perform better from the beginning of the new year, they said.Besides, the financial institutions which sold off shares ahead of December closing would go for investments again, they said.

The media reported that most of the banks witnessed growth in operating profits in 2021 compared with that in the previous year that attracted some investors to the bank shares, the market operators said.

Share prices of many companies have dropped significantly in the recent downward trend on the market that instigated investors for bargain hunting, they said. Among the large capitalised companies, share prices of BEXIMCO, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, GPH Ispat, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh and LankaBangla Finance soared on the day. However, the investors’ confidence in the market is yet to be restored that has resulted in instability on the market, the market operators said.

Turnover on the DSE declined to Tk 894.17 crore on Sunday from Tk 921.81 crore in the previous session. The market has been in the doldrums for the last five months due to a host of reasons, including a tussle between the Bangladesh Bank and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission over stock market-related issues, share price manipulation by a section of unscrupulous investors and continued share sales by the foreign investors, they said.

Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Fortune Shoes, IFIC Bank, GSP Finance, Sonali Paper, One Bank, Genex Infosys, Delta Life Insurance and Power Grid Company were the other turnover leaders on the day.