Dhaka stocks passed the last week almost flat with the market ending higher on the closing day, paced by heavy buying into banks, insurers, pharmaceuticals and ICB mutual funds following corporate declarations, reports bdnews24.com.

Turnover and the trading volume also followed the pattern of a fall over the week and a rise on Apr 30, the last trading day. The week saw four trading days as May 1 was a national holiday.

Total turnover for the week amounted to Tk 10 .84 billion while the daily average turnover recorded a 23.22 percent increase over the previous week to Tk 2.71 billion.

Market analysts said investors were engaged in mixed buying and selling over the week as there was a bit of liquidity crisis in the market. As merchant banks are maintaining a cautious stance about issuing margin loans, the market is running a bit short of liquidity, investment consultant Bashir Ahmed of Stocks and Bonds told bdnews24com.

"This led the investors to engage in mixed buying and selling over the week," he added. An official of a merchant bank preferring anonymity said they were not issuing loans at the 1:1 ratio fixed by the market regulator. "Merchant banks are cautious about issuing loans nowadays.

There is a risk of market overheating if loans are disbursed profusely," he told bdnews24.com. Most bankers are providing loans at the 1:0.5 ratio, the official said. Meanwhile, market observers lauded the merchant banks' behaviour and said that they were acting responsibly.

"We have seen that investors, especially retail ones, overheat the market by putting money in undervalued scrips," said Dhaka Stock Exchange's chief executive Salahuddin Ahmed.

"From this point of view, I would say that the merchant banks are behaving responsibly," he added. The benchmark DGEN or general index was at 3079.35 on the opening day and fell 6.5 points or 0.21 percent to 3072.85 on the closing day while the DSI or all-share price index also fell 6.34 points or 0.24 percent from the opening day to finish at 2593.26 on Wednesday. Market capitalisation witnessed a 0.19 percent decline to Tk 855.22 billion on the closing day from Tk 856.89 billion on Sunday.

AB Bank, UCBL, Square Pharma, ACI and IFIC Bank topped the week's turnover board. Net asset value declarations of Investment Corporation of Bangladesh and its mutual funds led them to dominate the top 10 gainers along with Z category issue Bangladesh Luggage.

The week's major events included unearthing a shady website by the Securities and Exchange Commission offering stock market consultancy to investors in violation of the securities laws. SEC executive director Farhad Ahmed told a press briefing on Apr 29 that the site contains information on which issues to rise at what pace in next-day trade and asks investors to buy the scrips to gain windfalls. The SEC official however declined to disclose the name of the website.

"I cannot say it now as an investigation is ongoing," he said. Solicitation services without the consent of the capital market regulator are illegal, according to the law. "If someone is permitted to operate as a financial analyst, he cannot pass on this information to the public.

Consultancy must be client-specific," said the SEC official. The regulator thinks that those who are behind the initiative have an intention to manipulate the market. SEC's top priority was to shut down such activities, according to Farhad.

Meanwhile, the market regulator is formulating a guideline for establishing the branch offices of brokerage houses and decided to lift the "circuit breaker" on the post-record day trading of an issue.

The SEC also raised validity of licence renewal of authorised representatives of brokerage houses to five years from the existing one year in a bid to cut administrative hassles. The decisions came at a meeting of the commission on Tuesday, according to the SEC official.

"The purpose of making a guideline for branch offices of brokerage houses is to ensure that investors enjoy equal security," Farhad said.