BSEC lowers circuit breaker limit to 3pc for most listed securities

The securities regulator has reduced the lower limit of the circuit breaker to 3 per cent from 10 per cent for all listed securities, other than six which still have the floor price, to arrest the persistent free-fall of the capital market.

The regular upper 10 per cent limit will remain unchanged for all securities.  

To this effect, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) issued a directive on Wednesday, which will come into effect from Thursday.

This latest regulatory move came against the backdrop of a significant downturn in the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), which has plunged 758 points or 12 per cent since the floor price lifted in January this year.

The market of the DSE, calculated by multiplying the total number of a company’s outstanding shares by the current market price of those shares, shed Tk 852 billion after the removal of floor price in January.

Mohammad Rezaul Karim, a BSEC executive director and spokesperson, said the regulator issued the directive to contain ‘abnormal’ transactions for the sake of investors and the market as well.

In its latest directive regarding withdrawal of the floor price issued on February 6 last, the securities regulator kept the floor price for six companies such as BEXIMCO, BSRM, Islami Bank, Khulna Power Company, Meghna Petroleum and Shahjibazar Power Company unchanged.

The floor price of these companies will remain effective.

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