The Dhaka Stock Exchange is coming to the rescue of stockbrokers as the premier bourse is set to increase their share buying capacity without the need to keep security deposits.

The move comes following demand from brokers who can now buy stocks of Tk 10 crore a day without keeping security deposits or providing bank guarantees.

"As the turnover of the market has gone up, we need to have some advantages such as the capacity to buy more shares without security deposits," said a top official of a stockbroker asking not to be named.

Turnover, an important indicator of the market, was Tk 1,155 crore a day on an average in the last two weeks, according to data from DSE.

"The turnover of the market will go up further once the bond market becomes vibrant. So, such a measure from DSE was necessary," the official added.

The premier bourse has already sought approval from the stock market regulator to raise the limit based on the performance and net assets of the stockbrokers.

The limit would be two times the daily average turnover or 50 per cent of the TREC-holder (trading right entitlement certificate-holder) company's net worth, whichever is lower, according to DSE's proposal.

The bourse proposed to divide the brokers into five categories from A to E based on their performance.

The A category brokerage houses with an average daily turnover of more than Tk 10 crore might be allowed to buy shares worth Tk 30 crore without any security deposits, according to the proposal.

The limit could be Tk 20 crore for the second category brokerage houses whose average daily turnover is Tk 5 crore to Tk 10 crore.

DSE suggested the C category brokerage houses whose average daily turnover is Tk 2 crore to Tk 5 crore should be allowed to buy shares of Tk 15 crore.

The D category brokerage houses with Tk 1-2 crore average daily turnover would get the Tk 5 crore-limit and the E category brokerage houses with less than Tk 1 crore average daily turnover might be allowed to buy shares of Tk 1 crore.

As the stock market has been bearish for long, stockbrokers are struggling to run their business, said another stockbroker and a leader of DSE Brokers' Association.

So, it is very difficult to set aside a higher amount of security deposits.

If the rules are relaxed, the costs will come down, which may ultimately benefit the market, he added.

"We want to ease the difficulties the stockbrokers face, but at the same time, we have to keep in mind the investors' interests," said a senior official of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission.

A decision will be made on the proposals of DSE very soon, he added.

DSEX, the benchmark index of DSE, rose 90.8 points or 1.9 per cent week-on-week to stand at 4,794.1.

Among the large-cap sectors, non-bank financial institutions posted the highest positive change with 8.19 per cent gain in the week.

The daily average turnover increased 8.54 per cent to reach Tk 1,179 crore.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals topped the turnover chart with Tk 68 crore a day on average followed by Beximco, Orion Pharmaceuticals, IFIC Bank and Brac Bank.

Savar Refractories was on the top of the gainers' list, rising 54 per cent during the week, followed by Zeal Bangla, BIFC, Orion Pharmaceuticals and Exim Bank First Mutual Fund.