Big traders come under SEC lens

Maria Perisic, senior operations officer of sustainable development department of World Bank for South Asia, meets with Md Jashim Uddin, first vice president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, at the trade body's office in Dhaka yesterday. Photo: FBCCI

The investors, who trade Tk 1 crore or above on a single day, have come under the scanner of Securities and Exchange Commission -- a move by the stockmarket regulator to strengthen market monitoring.
The market watchdog has asked stock dealers to submit from today the portfolio statements of their clients whose trade value reaches Tk 1 crore or above on a single day, SEC officials said.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Market Monitoring Committee of the SEC, presided over by the commission’s Chairman Ziaul Haque Khondker.
The Dhaka stocks rose yesterday too, for the ninth consecutive session, and during the nine-day rally, the benchmark index of the premier bourse jumped more than 350 points.
However, an SEC official said the measure will not help much to calm down the market, now in a bullish mood.
"Rather, it may create problem in the supply of stocks, as the big individual investors will not sell off their holdings on a single day," the official said.
The SEC body also directed the stock dealers to submit BO-ISIN (beneficiary owner-international securities identification number) holding report, financial ledger of last one week, bank statement of the dealers of last one month and trade summery report of last one week, to the commission.
The committee also decided to monitor the market jointly with Dhaka Stock Exchange.
From now, in line with another decision of the SEC, no stockbroker or stock dealer can open branch office out of divisional town.
The SEC also decided to delist Z-category companies, which are in the junk area for more than last two years, from the main trading board, and transfer the companies to the over-the-counter (OTC) market.
Meanwhile, following a move by the SEC to fight a legal battle to enforce a new rule for share loans, the court yesterday set Thursday for a full-bench hearing on the issue.
The SEC last week sought a freeze on a stay order by the High Court on its directive on a NAV (net asset value) calculation for share credit and trigger sale.
The NAV-based calculation was meant to control the liquidity flow to the stockmarket.