Investors of the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Sunday staged a demonstration, the third since Tuesday, following yet another steep plunge in share prices on the day, a trend that had swept through the last week.
The benchmark general index of the DSE, or DGEN, on Sunday, shed 139.74 points, or 2.23 per cent, to close at 6,120.16 points. The index had lost 590 points in the past 10 trading days.
The turnover of the bourse also dropped to the one-month low of Tk 560.67 crore from that of Tk 618.68 crore on the previous trading day.
Trading on the DSE started in a negative note on the day, with the DGEN making a 90 degree nosedive, losing 122 points in just five minutes of trading. Although the market tried to pull through in the next 15 minutes, it lost 185 points by 11:30pm.
At 12:05, when the DGEN lost around 170 points, investors came out of different brokerages on the street in front of the DSE building at Motijheel in the capital. They formed a human chain in front of the entrance to the bourse.
Investors on the day were most angry with finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith for the remark he had made on Saturday. He said gamblers, not investors, were dominating the capital market.
The demonstrators termed the finance minister a mentally retarded person and demanded his immediate resignation.
'If he makes such comments while occupying a key chair, it only proves he is not worthy to run a ministry,' said one of the demonstrating investors.
They also chanted slogan against Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and DSE president Shakil Rizvi for their failure to stabilise the market and for infusing the investors with panic. At around 1:30pm, after the market had closed for the day, more investors joined the demonstration. They blockaded the road, stopping all vehicular movement between Shapla Square and Ittefaq Crossing, and took out a procession that paraded up and down the road section a few times.
After the procession, they held a brief meeting, where they announced a programme of marching from the DSE to the SEC, laying seize to the SEC building, and submitting a memorandum to the commission chairman today.
DSE investors in last week took to the streets twice, protesting the free fall in share prices.
Market operators said many investors, who had incurred huge losses during the January's market crash and passed the subsequent depression till June, were becoming more and more panicky by the day.
They said many investors refrained from trading from the fear that another round of debacle was in the offing.
'The turnover indicates that the investors are not participating in trading. May be the manipulators are active in the market,' said an equities market analyst.
The current bear run began on July 25 with a market correction, following the government decision to offload more shares of state-owned enterprises in the market. Poor corporate disclosures made by listed companies and the tight monetary policy adopted by the Bangladesh Bank also fuelled the fall at the time.
The situation aggravated on Monday, following the announcement made by the SEC that it would file cases against the suspected market manipulators who might have been behind the January's stock market crash.
Of the 253 issues traded on Sunday, 24 advanced, 220 declined, and nine remained unchanged.
Source : New Age
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