DSE halts trade of two firms

In response to share price jumps of Aftab Automobiles and Eastern Housing, the Dhaka Stock Exchange management yesterday halted trade of the two companies to make way for a market probe, a move to prevent unusual security price hikes.

Some brokers and investors were however disappointed by DSE's decision.

“Why is the management only looking at these two particular issues? There are many other issues, whose prices have doubled or trebled in the last one month. The DSE management did not halt trade of those issues,” said a broker.

The DSE will investigate whether there were any efforts to manipulate prices or any insider news on why the share prices rocketed, officials said.

“We are closely monitoring the share price hikes of some scrips, beginning with Aftab Automobiles and Eastern Housing,” a senior official of DSE told The Daily Star.

He said the share prices of one company doubled in just a month, while the prices of the other soared by more than 50 percent in the same period.

Prior to the halt, each Aftab Automobiles share was traded at Tk 1,224 yesterday, while the company closed at Tk 683.25 a month ago.

Meanwhile, each Eastern Housing share was traded at Tk 496, before the halt by the DSE yesterday. The price for a share was Tk 314.25 a month ago.

However, share prices of the two companies were seen to be rising for some time now.

Share prices of Aftab Automobiles, a sister concern of Navana Group, was riding on speculation that another concern of the group, Navana CNG, will be listed directly on the stock exchanges.

But officials from Navana Group previously said they did not take any such decision. They are simply studying the possibilities of a direct listing by Navana CNG.

It was also rumoured to believe that Navana CNG's direct listing would benefit Aftab Automobiles financially, as it has stakes in the former.

But Aftab Automobiles said they do not have any stakes in Navana CNG.

On the other hand, share prices of Eastern Housing were soaring on speculation that the company will be evaluated soon, the results of which would disclose the company's strengths.

The temporary suspension of trade also left an impact on the market.

As news of the halt was posted on the DSE website at around 11:30am, the market started falling and finally, it closed low.

The DSE General Index fell by 15.11 points, or 0.56 percent, to 2,637.99. The DSE All Share Price Index also declined 12.75 points, or 0.57 percent to 2,194.94.

Losers outnumbered the gainers by 169 to 82. Seven securities however remained unchanged.

A total of 3,43,12,630 shares worth Tk 496.79 crore were traded on the premier bourse.