No more margin loan for junk shares
Shares with weak fundamentals will no longer be considered as marginable securities, meaning margin loan facilities will not be given against the under-performing companies' stocks.
Also, shares of the companies, which will fail to submit their annual reports within stipulated time, will not be treated as marginable securities.
Marginable security means a stock that can be purchased on margin loan provided by brokerage houses and merchant banks.
Stock market regulator took the decisions at a meeting yesterday as a part of tightening the existing margin rule, which allows a broker or a merchant bank to provide loans against any company's shares.
“The margin rule has been tightened for weak-performing companies, as loan on such companies often makes the stocks overpriced and creates disturbance in the market,” said Anwarul Kabir Bhuiyan, executive director of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“Notifications to this effect will be issued next week,” he said.
Market operators said they do not offer margin loan facilities against junk or Z category shares except those for some companies, which are actually fundamentally strong but remain in the Z category either for legal issues or for not giving dividends.
Although the SEC earlier asked the stock exchanges to make a list of marginable securities, the bourses could not do so.
“As the bourses failed to make the list, we as a regulator are doing it,” Bhuiyan said.
The SEC also decided not to give margin facilities for the first 30 trading days to any newly listed companies, and securities that will be upgraded or downgraded.
The commission initiated a move to prepare margin rule for merchant banks, which are now following their own guidelines to provide loans.
The existing margin loan is applicable only for brokerage houses.
The SEC has also eased the existing refund warrant system. From the next IPO (initial public offering), the issuer company will send the refund warrants to the unsuccessful IPO applicants' bank accounts directly.
Under the existing system, the refund warrants are sent to the IPO applicants' mailing addresses.
The SEC also formed a three-member probe committee to investigate transactions of Marico Bangladesh, which made debut on the bourses on September 16.
“The commission did not feel comfort at the higher prices of Marico share and transactions,” Bhuiyan said.
On its debut, each Marico share of Tk 10 was traded as high as Tk 368. However the company in addition to the face value took Tk 80 per share as premium.
Each Marico share rose as high as Tk 459 yesterday before closing at Tk 450.20 on Dhaka Stock Exchange.
The SEC asked the probe body to submit its report within the next 15 working days.
The watchdog has also selected 48 companies, whose trading is now suspended, for over-the-counter (OTC) market, a separate trading floor for trading junk shares introduced on DSE on September 6.
“We will direct the stock exchanges within one or two working days to transfer 48 companies to the OTC market,” Bhuiyan said.
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