BB allows each bank to form Tk 2b fund

The central bank has allowed all scheduled banks to create a special fund worth Tk 2.0 billion each of five-year tenure, only for investment in the capital market. Under the fresh arrangement, the banks may form the special fund with their own resources or with fund received from the Bangladesh Bank (BB) through repo or re-financing mechanism, according to a notification, issued by the BB on Sunday. Such investment will not be included in the banks’ capital market exposures, both on solo and consolidated basis, until February 2025. The banks will be eligible to get repo (repurchase agreement) facilities against treasury bills (T-bills) and treasury bonds at 5.0 per cent interest rate instead of the existing 6.0 per cent. The interested banks will receive such low-cost fund through special repo facility without holding any auction. Under the mechanism, the banks may lend money to share market intermediaries by charging maximum 7.0 per cent interest rate. Some criteria have been set for the fund to mitigate risk through diversifying investment portfolios. On September 22 last year, the BB offered repo facility to the banks at 6.0 per cent interest rate for investment in the capital market. The facility drew very little attention, as only the City Bank Limited took Tk 500 million under the facility, although the banks had scope of borrowing around Tk 30 billion from the central bank.

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/first-page/bb-allows-each-bank-to-form-tk-2b-fund-1581356791

Core index sheds 121 points in five days

Stocks witnessed a modest fall on Monday, extending the losing streak for the fifth straight session, as nervous investors continued their sell-offs on selective issues. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 3.20 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 4,385. DSEX had lost a cumulative 121 points or 2.70 per cent in the past five consecutive sessions. Market operators said despite the government decided to offload shares of state-owned banks, no positive effects was visible in market amid ongoing volatility. Recently the government passed a bill to bring the surplus money of 61 state-owned and autonomous agencies to the national exchequer which eroded investors’ confidence. In recent market developments, Bangladesh Bank has decided to support the ailing stock market with liquidity and might provide a loan size of Tk 20 billion, but no positive impact on the market. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also saw a fractional loss of 0.88 point to finish at 1,491. However, the DSE Shariah Index gained 3.85 points to close at 1,016. Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, also fell and amounted to three-week low to Tk 3.41 billion, which was 5.80 per cent lower than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 3.62 billion. The financial institutions sector witnessed the highest loss of 1.44 per cent, followed by telecom with 0.74 per cent, banking 0.65 per cent, food 0.60 per cent and power 0.45 per cent. On the other hand, engineering and pharmaceuticals sectors gained 0.78 per cent and 0.34 per cent respectively. Losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 353 issues traded, 166 closed lower, 124 ended higher and 63 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor. A total number of 107,516 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 120.88 million shares and mutual fund units. The market-cap of the DSE also fell to Tk 3,357 billion, from Tk 3,363 billion in the previous session. SK Trims was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.94 per cent while Metro Spinning was the worst loser, losing 6.41 per cent. The port city’s bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange, also saw marginal fall with its All Shares Price Index (CASPI)-losing 30 points to close at 13,381 and the Selective Categories Index – CSCX -falling 15 points to finish at 8,114. Here too, the losers beat gainers, as 118 issues closed lower, 77 ended higher and 45 remained unchanged on the CSE. The port city bourse traded 5.59 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 173 million in turnover.

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/core-index-sheds-121-points-in-five-days-1581353935

FBCCI seeks members’ opinions by Feb 12

The apex trade-body, FBCCI, has sought opinions from its member associations regarding the possible impact of Coronavirus outbreak on the country’s trade and economy. The FBCCI has taken the initiative in line with a recent directive of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC), provided in a meeting with the apex trade-body on February 6. Subsequently, the ministry at an emergency meeting on February 7 discussed the possible impact of Coronavirus outbreak in China on Bangladesh economy, especially on export-import. The MoC has also asked various market monitoring agencies to intensify their vigilance, so that none can raise commodity prices in the name of short supply, citing China’s Coronavirus epidemic. There are examples that some unscrupulous businesses, on various occasions, took advantage of supply chain disruption, and raised commodity prices in the country. These businessmen may take the chance again, as Coronavirus is gradually spreading to more countries, posing threat to disrupt local commodity supply chain

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade-market/fbcci-seeks-members-opinions-by-feb-12-1581352914