DSE sees highest ever Treasury bond trading on Sunday

The deadlock in the trading of Treasury bonds was finally broken on Sunday as the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) registered the highest even Tk3.2 crore turnover on its Treasury bond trading platform.

Also, it was this year's first Treasury bond trading on the exchange platform which was launched in October 2022. And, in the first three months of its launch, the cumulative turnover stood at Tk60 lakh. 

Thanks to LankaBangla Securities Ltd (LBSL) – a leading brokerage firm – for making it happen after a long pause. Picking among the listed Treasury bonds worth investing now, ensuring the supply of the securities, and letting its clients buy those securities are mainly how the brokerage firm made it possible. 

"With the trades, we started our specialised client services for Treasury trading. Our Treasury bond trading desk consists of a number of trained executives who are creating awareness about the opportunities in the Treasury bonds market," said LBSL CEO Khandoker Saffat Reza.

Some high-net-worth individual (HNI) clients of the firm were keen to enjoy a decent interest yield, with added headroom for possible capital gains and tax rebates. This has propelled them to invest in three Treasury bonds.

Senior Manager Abdul Kader Nabil, who is a member of the LBSL Treasury trading team, said on Sunday, "Each of the three Treasury bonds our clients bought today offers a higher than yield FDR. Also, there are exit opportunities in the secondary market, and most importantly, there's a lucrative tax rebate on offer."

"The three 15-year government bonds would mature in January through March next year. Before that, the government would pay a higher than 12% interest per year, divided among two biannual coupons," said Assistant Manager Farabi Masum Khan who has a five-year experience in Treasury bond trading for a leading non-bank financial institution.

"Having paid Tk103-104 for a unit of the bonds, the investors would receive a 7% to 8% yield at maturity," he added.

Yield is the percentage return from interest the investors would get during the maturity of their investment.

DSE has 243 Treasury bonds listed right now, and the exchange platform has been in a vicious cycle of low demand and low supply that resulted in rare trading of the bonds issued by the Bangladesh government.