 | Bangladesh suspends stock trading after sharp fall
10 January, 2011
Bangladesh's stock market regulator Monday suspended trading on the county's two bourses including premier Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) following a record price fall in history, an official said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made the decision "to safeguard the interest of the small investors." a SEC official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The SEC decision came at around 12 p.m. local time when the main benchmark index of the premier bourse slumped by 617 points.
The benchmark Dhaka Stock Exchange General Index (DGEN) slipped 660.43 points or 9.26 percent to 6,474.59 at the end of around one- hour trading from Sunday's finish.
The index registered previous biggest ever single-day fall in history on Sunday, plummeting by 600.20 points at the end of the four-hour trading session.
Earlier the biggest fall in a single day was on Dec. 19 last year when DGEN slipped 551.77 points or 6.73 percent to close at 7, 654.41.
In a bid to settle the market, the SEC on Sunday morning lifted the bank loan ceiling of 100 million taka (about 1.43 million U.S. dollars) for investing in the stock market and eased many other restrictions but those steps of the regulator could not stop the price erosion on Monday.
The SEC official, however, said trading on two bourses will remain suspended until further notice.
Reasons for such a steep fall is not clear, he said.
Frustrated at sharp price fall and the SEC decision to suspend trading, several hundred retail investors started to stage demonstrations in front of Bangladesh's main bourse building in capital Dhaka and many other cities.
Additional police and members of Rapid Action Battalion were deployed in front of the DSE building to avoid riot.
Release link:http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2011-01/10/c_13684002.htm
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