Fund re-infusion buoys up stock market again

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FE ReportbrStock prices on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) after suffering a setback following capital market regulator's decision on mutual funds have bounced back. brThough the benchmark DGEN dipped to 2761.05 on July 31 last, it gained the pace again and crossed 2800-mark on September 4 last.brThe market is again in a positive mood with the infusion of large fund received through refund warrants of two IPOs worth about Tk 6.0 billion, a market operator told the FE Monday.brA large fund worth about Tk 6.0 billion flowed out of the market during the subscriptions of two IPOs, Grameen-Two and First Security Bank. But investors brought back the fund to secondary market after the lotteries of the issues held recently.brThe subscriptions of Grameen-Two and First Security Bank ended July 14 and July 24 respectively.brAll the market barometers-DSE General Index or DGEN, DS-20 and All Shares Price Index or DSI gained 12.36 points, 15.54 points and 8.13 points Monday to close at 2836.40, 2422.93 and 2412.29 respectively.brStocks of banks and life insurance companies are attracting the investors amid better half-yearly results of most of the listed companies.brAccording to un-audited half-yearly reports for the period ending on June 30,2008, out of 30 listed banks, 23 showed a better net profit margin.brThe listed Non-Banking Financial Institutions, companies like BOC Bangladesh, Summit Power, Heidelberg Cement, Lafarge Surma Cement, Bata Shoe and Apex Footwear also showed a better financial performance during the first six months of this calendar year.brApart from banks and life insurance companies, Titas Gas and ACI are leading the rally.brTitas Gas got listed under the direct listing rules in early July but failed to attract the investors during the first three weeks due to the abundance in the number of shares.brThe profitable state-owned company 8.564 million shares and closed at Tk 301.75 per share on July 31 last. However, the issue closed at Tk 461.75 per share on DSE Monday, a 1.44 per cent down against the previous day.brOn the other hand, ACI closed at Tk 553.20 Monday on the DSE against the face value of Tk ten only.brThe price and volume of ACI shares continued to rise sharply since the first week of July when the news that ACI Formulations Ltd, a subsidiary of ACI Ltd will go public through direct listing.brMarket sources said the anticipation that existing shareholders of ACI will be benefited with the direct listing of ACI Formulations triggered higher demand for ACI share prices.brAn extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM) of ACI July 02, 2008 approved the direct listing of the subsidiary company.brACI Formulations Ltd was incorporated as a private limited company on October 29, 1995. The prime activity of the company is manufacturing and marketing of a number of agrochemical and consumer products.brThe other subsidiaries of ACI are ACI Salt Ltd, ACI Foods Ltd, ACI Pure Flour Ltd, Apex Leather Craft Ltd, Flyban Insecticides Ltd, ACI Agrochemicals Ltd, ACI Motors Ltd, Creative Communication Ltd and Premiaflex Plastics Ltd.brWith Tk 250 million share capital, ACI Formulations Ltd's total balance was Tk 594,267,357 as on December 31,2007, according to the latest annual report of ACI.brOn Monday, Titas, ICB Second Mutual Fund, ACI and Grameen Two led the turnover list. Of the turnover, Tk 281.71 million of Titas, Tk 252 million of ICB Second Mutual Fund, Tk 207 million of ACI and Tk 191 million of Grameen Two were transacted on the day.brMonday's total turnover was Tk 3.38 billion while the total market capitalisation was Tk 996.03 billion.brOn Monday, out of 220 traded issues, 119 advanced, 91 declined and 10 remained unchanged on the DSE.brImproved investors' awareness to some extent has also been a catalyst to the recent rally, market insiders believe.br