Five state banks to get listed by Oct

Five state-run banks are set to get listed on the stock market by September as part of the government’s move to prop up the ailing bourse that has arguably dragged investor confidence down to rock bottom. A quarter of the shares of Sonali, Agrani, Janata, Rupali and Bangladesh Development Bank (BDBL) would be offloaded on the stock market. 25 per cent is a huge amount, so we have to analyse the demand. Rupali Bank is already listed with the stock exchanges: about 10 per cent of its shares are available in the market now. The other 15 per cent would be offloaded within the next 2-3 months. BDBL’s timeline is August and Agrani’s September. Janata and Sonali would be listed within October. A committee has already been formed to work on the listing of the banks, which will be coordinated by the state-owned merchant bank Investment Corporation of Bangladesh. Stock market experts though are sceptical about the boost in morale the banks’ listing would bring given the lenders’ underwhelming performance. They fear the stocks might turn junk and add to the pile of problems the bourse is battling. Regardless, the government will facilitate what the market needs to get hale and hearty.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/five-state-banks-get-listed-oct-1865821

WB Group to support 1,200 women-owned businesses

Women-owned businesses in Bangladesh need better access to markets and corporate value chains to boost the country’s inclusive growth and to create more jobs, the World Bank Group said at the Corporate Connect 2020 Conference & Business Fair on Sunday. Built on the success of a just completed pilot project, the World Bank Group together with WEConnect International on the day launched a project that is expected to help 1,200 women-owned businesses connect with potential large local and multinational corporate buyers. The conference was attended by policymakers and business leaders where best practices to diversify value chains were discussed. A business fair was also organised for women entrepreneurs to build networks and access corporate procurement opportunities. The earlier pilot project provided capacity building training to over 150 women entrepreneurs and facilitated linkages with large corporations through various business networking opportunities and nearly 90 per cent of the beneficiaries reported improvements in their businesses.

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/wb-group-to-support-1200-women-owned-businesses-1581266563

Stocks tumble amid panic sell-offs

Stocks plummeted Sunday as worried investors continued their sell-offs on large-cap issues, fearing further fall of prices. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 64.20 points or 1.44 per cent to settle at 4,388. The core index had lost a cumulative 118 points or 2.62 per cent in the past four consecutive sessions. A bill to bring the surplus money of 61 state-owned and autonomous agencies to the state coffer was passed in parliament on Wednesday. The government on Sunday set timeline to September for listing three state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs) and offloading additional shares of another bank to the bourses, aiming to give new life to the ailing market that needs supplies of good issues. Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, lost 21.40 points to finish at 1,492 and the DSE Shariah Index plunged 14.99 points to close at 1,012. Turnover, a crucial indicator of the market, also fell and amounted to 15-session low to Tk 3.62 billion, which was 3.72 per cent lower than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 3.76 billion. According to International Leasing Securities shaky investors mostly followed cautious stance based on unsatisfactory performance of major macro-economic indicators. Large-cap sectors showed negative movements with engineering sector witnessed the highest loss of 2.24 per cent, followed by power with 2.06 per cent, food 1.56 per cent, banking 1.20 per cent, financial institutions 1.16 per cent, telecom 1.06 per cent and phrma 0.72 per cent. Losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 356 issues traded, 271 closed lower, 43 ended higher and 42 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor. A total number of 121,475 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 133 million shares and mutual fund units. The market-cap of the DSE also fell to Tk 3,363 billion, from Tk 3,404 billion in the previous session.

Source: https://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/stocks-tumble-amid-panic-sell-offs-1581266386