Newly-listed companies, which rallied over the last few weeks, suffered the biggest hits in the outgoing week that ended on Thursday as four out of top ten losers were newcomers.
Energypac Power Generation, Robi Axiata, Associated Oxygen and Dominage Steel Building Systems entered the list of week's top losers on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
Shares price of Energypac Power Generation plunged 24.13 per cent to close at Tk 54.40 a share on Thursday, making it the week's top loser.
Robi Axiata, the second largest mobile phone operator, continued to slide as its stock saw 15.44 per cent correction to close at Tk 44.90 on Thursday. It was the week's second highest loser.
Associated Oxygen and Dominage Steel Building Systems also lost 12.07 per cent and 10.74 per cent respectively. Associated Oxygen was the sixth top loser and Dominage Steel Building was the eighth worst loser.
The newcomers in the stock market suffer most during the week as the securities regulator formed a two-member body on Wednesday to probe into the role of market operators behind the unusual price hike of shares of the newly-listed firms, observed in their initial trading sessions, said a merchant banker.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) probe body will also identify the fake buy orders placed for the shares of debutant Mir Akhter Hossain which made debut on Tuesday.
Following the news, investors also lost their appetite for shares of newly listed Mir Akther, which entered on third day on Thursday, losing almost 10 per cent to Tk 90.20 a share, making it the day's worst loser on Thursday.
However, Mir Akhter, which raised Tk 1.25 billion through initial public offering (IPO) recently, surged more than 85 per cent in the past two trading days - Tuesday and Wednesday --from its issue price of Tk 54 each.
Generally, a new company remains halted on the first few days upon arrival due to a lack of sellers in the midst of a huge number of buyers.
The BSEC observed that some brokerage firms in different times placed orders at high prices before starting the trading session to halt the companies' trading.
The BSEC spokesperson Mohammad Rezaul Karim, said many eligible investors played a role to halt share trading of the newly-listed companies by placing artificial buy orders at high prices.
"The securities regulator has started doing its job to contain abnormal price hike of the newly-listed companies, based on inside information."
Mr. Karim also said two BO (beneficiary owner's) accounts were already frozen, as a significant number of buy orders had been placed through those accounts.
