Floor removed from four more stocks, circuit breaker regularised

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has removed floor price from four of the six remaining stocks which were maintaining the downward price restriction with immediate effect.

Shahjibazar Power, Khulna Power, Meghna Petroleum and BSRM Limited will have no floor from today, while Islami Bank and Beximco Limited shares will not be traded lower than the floor price until further notice, according to the regulator.

The narrowed down lower circuit breaker that was not allowing stock prices to fall by more than 3% a day will not remain from today, the regulator said yesterday evening.

The lower circuit will follow the regular rules—10% for stocks priced at up to Tk200, 8.75% for the stocks trading in the range of Tk200-Tk500, 7.5% for stocks worth Tk500-Tk1,000 apiece, 6.25% for the Tk1,000-Tk2,000 ranged shares, 5% for Tk2,000-Tk5,000 shares, and 3.75% for the shares trading above Tk5,000 apiece.

The narrowed down floor hindered trading in the market as stocks were not getting spontaneous buy orders amid a lack of breathing space, depriving investors of the needed opportunity for convenient, frequent stock switching, market people say.

In its 916th commission meeting yesterday headed by its new chairman Khondoker Rashed Maqsood, the regulator also decided to opt out of the previous plan for signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Telecommunication Monitoring Committee (NTMC) that eyed intruding telecommunication of market related people for stronger surveillance and monitoring.

The regulator under its former chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, had an attempt for intruding telecommunications, it wrote to the Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance for approval for the MoU with the NTMC.

Media reports about the development sparked anger among the market people as citizens were already angry with the breach of privacy due to the telecommunication monitoring by the ousted regime.

The regulator also decided to cancel the appointment of national team cricket all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan as the goodwill ambassador of the commission for nationwide financial literacy programme.

Shakib Al Hasan became a controversial person due to his involvement in stock market manipulation along with Abul Khayer Hiru.

Shakib Al Hasan was made the BSEC's financial literacy programme's goodwill ambassador in 2017.

Earlier this year, he became a member of parliament, backed by the Awami League.

Also, the listed companies which did not disburse announced dividends in time will face the music, said the BSEC.

Its officials told TBS that around two dozen companies might be in the list.

Besides, the commission found that the MoUs already signed with securities regulators of five countries for mutual cooperation are helpful for the development of the market. It will pursue the next one planned with Kazakhstan.