The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The shaky Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) witnessed no transaction of Rupali Bank shares as the authorities allowed its transaction yesterday after nine months of closure.

No one came forward to buy a share of the bank on the DSE, as the shareholders were not ready to sell it incurring minimum loss.

Present shareholders of the Rupali Bank seem to be still hopeful about its bounce back, when a new investor in it seems to be more cautious than previous times, market analysts said.

Rupali shares last traded at Tk 2,904 on the prime bourse. Trading was halted by the bourse authorities on Nov 6 last year as the scrip became overpriced on news of the Saudi prince's bid to buy the bank.

But the bank's 30 shares worth Tk 76,327.50 traded on Chittagong Stock Exchange. It closed at Tk 2544.25, down from Tk 2826.75, the price on the last trade day on CSE.

The market plunged further in the weekly opening day with a marked fall by 30.41 points in general index (DGEN) on the DSE. The stocks closed lower on Thursday, witnessing a continuous fall over the week.

The benchmark DGEN lost 102 points over the week dropping to the lowest in nearly five months on Thursday.

Yesterday, the DSI or all-share price index lost 18.03 points or 0.72 per cent, ending on 2483.42, while the blue-chip DSE-20 finished at 2600.26, slipping 1.90 points or 0.73 per cent.

Total turnover on the DSE reached Tk 3.07 billion from the trading of 21,339,971 shares, up from Thursday's Tk 2.75 billion. Losers beat gainers 114 to 103 with 13 issues holding steady.

Indices on the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also finished lower with the losers dominating the gainers.

Turnover on the port city bourse crept up to Tk 42.18 crore, from the trading of 4,901,217 shares and debentures, up from Tk 44.26 crore the previous day.

The CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) decreased by 0.96 per cent to close at 8835.71 points.

The CSE-30 Index also shed 0.56 per cent to close at 7928.97 points. Of the traded 136 issues, 100 declined, 35 gained and only one remained unchanged.

Brokerage houses said that investor sell-offs continued with buying increasing form the previous day.

Market operators said prices had been continuously sliding as investors remained shaky in recent times.

Meanwhile, the investors of the Rupali Bank became victims by vacillations of Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud over its purchase.

In 2003, the government decided to sell its stakes of Rupali Bank and handed the job to the Privatisation Commission.

The commission invited bids to sell the bank's government shares in 2006. Saudi Prince won the purchase bid for a 67.26 per cent stake in Rupali for $330 million in 2006.

But later the prince offered to buy another 26 per cent government stake for $128 million. Private investors hold a 6 per cent stake in the bank.

The government agreed to sell its 26 per cent stake to the prince, which means the prince was meant to take a 94 per cent stake of the bank for $458 million.

The news led Rupali shares to rise above Tk 3,200 from Tk 450 in a year. On Nov 6, the bourse authorities and the capital market regulator decided to halt trading of Rupali shares.

The cabinet committee for economic affairs cancelled the selling process on Mar 10 after long dithering of the Saudi Prince to close the deal.