The mutual fund (MFs) sector is yet to be able for attracting investors despite other sectors of listed securities are witnessing rally riding on investors' participation.
Earlier, the share prices of many listed securities, other than MFs, also were below face value of Tk 10 each.
The prices of those securities, except very few ones, went above face value following the continuous upward trend of the capital market.
But the market prices of the units of 64 per cent listed MFs are still below the face value, although the prices of only six companies of other sectors are below face value.
Of 35 listed MFs, the market prices of 24 ones presently are existing below face value, according to information of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
The MFs whose market prices are below face value are: First Janata Bank MF, AB Bank 1st MF, CAMP BDBL MF 01, BDH First MF, EBL First MF, EBL NRB MF, EXIM Bank 1st MF, First Bangladesh Fixed Income Fund, Green Delta MF, ICB 3rd NRB MF, ICB Employees Provident MF 1 : Scheme 1, ICB AMCL Sonali Bank Limited 1st MF, IFIC Bank 1st MF, IFIL Islamic MF-1, LR Global Bangladesh MF One, MBL 1st MF, NCC Bank MF-1, Phoenix Finance 1st MF, PHP First MF, Popular Life First MF, Prime Bank 1st ICB AMCL MF, Trust Bank 1st MF and Vanguard AML BD Finance MF One.
Asked, the managing director of AIMS of Bangladesh Yawer Sayeed said the performance of the fund managers is also one of the reasons responsible for sorry state of the MFs.
"MFs are performance based and many MFs do not disburse lucrative cash dividends. As a whole, there is no diversification in MF sector for attracting investors," Mr. Sayeed said.
Of 30 banks, the market price of only ICB Islamic Bank is now traded below face value.
Among the companies of pharmaceuticals & chemicals, which comprises 28 companies, the share price of Beximco Synthetics is below face value.
The textile sector has 48 listed securities and the share prices of Familytex (BD) and Metro Spinning are below face value.
Travel & Leisure sector comprises four companies and the price of two companies such as United Airways (BD) and Bangladesh Services are below face value.
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