The New Nation - Internet Edition

Pulack Ghatack

In the wave of unnatural price fluctuation, trading of the shares of Rupali Bank were stopped again yesterday on both the bourses of Dhaka and Chittagong.

The stock exchanges will continue to observe the real situation about selling of 93.6 per cent government's shares of the bank and the trading on the bourses will not resume until the issue of handing over the bank to a foreign buyer is not resolved, sources concerned said.

Authorities of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchanges (CSE) took the move after consulting with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) apprehending that innocent investors may be victimised by shrewd gamblers.

The prices were going sky high and were plunging to deaf sea now and then, due to confusing news recurrently spread by some important personalities over sale of the 93.6 per cent government share of the bank.

"We have halted the trading of Rupali Bank shares to stop the volatile movement in its prices," said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, chief executive of the DSE told The New Nation yesterday.

Trading of the bank's shares was scheduled to begin on the spot market- where transactions take place in cash deals-from Monday ahead of its book closure starting Nov 15.

The DSE halted the trading of Rupali shares for two days last week, on Oct 30-31, due to unusual fluctuations in its share price.

Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al Saudi, the winner of 93.6 percent stake in Rupali Bank, is dallying for years in finalising the sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with the government.

On October 9, the share price in Rupali Bank on the DSE soared by 57.26 percent, just in a day on the latest news that the state-run bank's future owner Prince Bandar will finalise the deal with the government by November.

Opening at Tk 2086, the share of the bank rose as high as Tk 3150 before the Dhaka Stock Exchange halted the trading to examine whether there is any malpractice behind the abnormal price hike.

But the stocks plunged the following day as the Privatisation Commission set November as the final deadline to sign the sale and purchase agreement, which comprises about 94 percent of the bank's shares at $458 million.

The share price rose again on reports that representatives of the Saudi prince had met army chief Moeen U Ahmed.

The DSE chief said prices of Rupali Bank were fluctuating based on newspapers reports. "But we need confirmation. We have yet to receive any confirmation."