Yet another stock plunge triggers street protests ==>> ‘Investors’ to lay siege to SEC today

Express (August 08, 2011)

A section of disgruntled investors blocked traffic and demanded resignation of the country's top financial managers as the index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) continued to fall on the second consecutive day on Sunday, police and witnesses said.

The protesters threatened to lay siege to the office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today (Monday) to protest against the fall of indices at all the bourses of the country.

The DSE main index, the DGEN fell 2.22 per cent or 139 points on the day.

Brokers said the index was continuing to fall as a majority section of worried investors offloaded shares fearing further instability in the market, due to a host of reasons, including upcoming political unrest in the country.

The opposition parties said it would reinvigorate anti-government campaign after Ramadan, protesting the recent constitutional amendment. Ramadan, the fasting month for Muslims ends in early September.

The investors took to the street at the busy Motijheel Commercial Area within an hour of the start of the trading as the index dropped by 150 points.

The investors demanded resignation of the finance minister, the governor of the Bangladesh Bank, and the president of the DSE, for what they said "failure to give benefit to the investors of the country's capital markets."

The trading continued and ended at 1:30 pm amidst street protests by a section of investors.

Vehicular movement from Motijheel Shapla Chattar to Ittefaq crossing remained suspended for a while due to demonstration by angry investors.

However, the police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control without any untoward incident.

This is the third such demonstration in the last six days since Tuesday. The latest demonstration was held Thursday where angry investors demanded immediate intervention of the Prime Minister to stabilise the market.

Following ups and downs throughout the session, the DGEN graph settled at 6,120, shedding 139 points or 2.22 per cent to 6120.16 points. Of the 253 issues traded, only 24 gained and, 220 declined and nine remained unchanged.

Besides offloading of shares by worried section of investors, taking of profit by a small investors, the bigger segment of the market, was the other cause of index fall, a section of brokers said.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith himself was fearing that the opposition campaign including strike and work-stoppages would block economic activity in the country in the coming days.

"We will have to count a loss worth $25 billion in next one and a half year if confrontational politics continues in the country," Muhith told a seminar of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dhaka on Saturday.

Other discussants including Commerce Minister Faruk Khan cited persistent power crisis and balance of payment problems etc as the other factors that block economic progress of the country.

The broader All Shares Price Index (DSI) shed 110.99 points or 2.12 per cent to close at 5,115.73. The DSE-20 Index comprising blue-chips went down by 80.11 points or 1.90 per cent to close at 4,115.73.

Mr Ahmad Rashid Lali, one of the directors of the DSE, felt that the harsh comments on the recent stock market developments by some government's high-ups was responsible for erosion in investors' confidence.

Regulator's pending action against some individual investors allegedly involved in the stock market manipulation further deepened the investors' anxiety, observed LankaBangla Securities in its daily commentary.

A total of 70.11 million shares changed hands on the day against 80.59 million in the previous session. The trade deals also declined to 127,078 against 132,503 in the previous session.

Total market capitalisation of the DSE declined to Tk 2,901.72 billion against Thursday's Tk 2,953.83 billion.

All sectors except cement ended in the red zone as market witnessed heavy selling pressure all across the board.

Banking sector was down by 2.50 per cent, whereas NBFI, insurance and fuel and power sectors declined by 2.10 per cent, 2.20 per cent and 1.90 per cent respectively.

Cement sector ended flat as heavy weight Lafarge Surma Cement gained 4.15 per cent following the news that the company is expecting to supply limestone in its cement plant from its limestone mine in Meghalaya of India this week.

Telecommunications, textile, pharmaceuticals, NBFIs and fuel and power sectors lost 2.50 per cent, 1.50 per cent, 2.10 per cent and 2.08 per cent respectively.

Beximco Limited topped the turnover list with shares worth Tk 280.81 million changing hands.

The other turnover leaders were National Bank, Titas Gas, MI Cement, Keya Cosmetics, United Airways, GP, RN Spinning, Malek Spinning and SIBL.

BEDL was the highest gainer posting a rise of 4.18 per cent following news that the company registered 60.82 per cent earning growth and recommended 20 per cent stock dividend for the year that ended on June 30, 2011.

It was followed by Trust First Mutual Fund, EBL First Mutual Fund, Monno Staffler, AIBL First Mutual Fund, National Tea Company, IFIC First Mutual Fund, Keya Cosmetics, DBH First Mutual Fund and Prime Insurance.

Northern Jute Manufacturing Co. Ltd was the day's top loser. It was followed by Samata Leather, Anwar Galvanising, Al-Haj Textile, Eastern Insurance, Beximco Pharma, Rahima Food, Confidence Cement, National Polymer and Pubali Bank.