 | Investors clash with police amidst falling stock prices
06 January, 2011
Hundreds of angry investors took to the street again on Wednesday and staged violent demonstration in front of the country's premier bourse, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), protesting the continuous fall in stock prices for the last four days.
The law enforcers lobbed at least three teargas canisters and used batons and sprayed coloured water to disperse the demonstrators when they tried to enter the Bangladesh Bank head office at Motijheel at about 1.55pm.
As the DSE general index fell by 120 points within one and a half hours from the start of the trading, investors brought out a procession alleging that the authorities failed to take necessary steps to 'save the market'.
The angry investors came out from the different brokerage houses and blocked the road in front of the DSE building and staged demonstrations. They also vandalized a vehicle.
Angry investors set fire to discarded tires, wood and a pile of paper in front of the DSE building and chanted slogans against top bosses of the bourse and regulators. Traffic movement through the street in front of the DSE came to a halt and nearby shops and offices pulled down their shutters.
The law enforcers chased the demonstrators to restore normal traffic movement in the area at about 1.55pm. Chase and counter chase between the police and investors took place for sometime. Police at one stage lobbed at least three teargas canisters and charged batons to disperse the demonstrators. The investors, in reply, hurled brickbats at the adjacent buildings and police. Vehicular movement was, however, restored at around 2:20pm.
Agitated investors alleged that big market players and gamblers might have a hand in the recent continuous market fall and they urged the government to stabilize the market.
They said the regulator should investigate whether vested quarters were responsible for the share price fall.
The market however recovered 88 points before close and at the end of the day, the benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN), the market barometer, shed 0.40 per cent or 32.55 points to end at 7948.43.
The broader DSE All Shares Price Index (DSI) ended at 6608.98, shedding 0.40 per cent or 26.23 points. The DSE-20 including blue chips index dropped 0.36 per cent or 17.87 points to 5000.61.
The see-saw movement of the index on the day clearly reflects the lack of investors' confidence, analysts said.
"The use tear gas to disperse the agitating investors is an unprecedented event history of the DSE," said Yawer Sayeed, managing director of AIMS of Bangladesh, an asset management company.
"The market situation is unlikely to improve until mid January because of the liquidity crisis," said Yawer Sayeed said.
"The central bank likely to announce half-yearly monetary policy in mid January and after that the market situation may improve," he added.
Turnover on Wednesday also declined significantly, by about 25 per cent over that of the previous session and stood at Tk 10.30 billion. Losers took strong lead over the gainers as out of 243 issues traded, only 80 gained, 158 declined and five remained unchanged.
Share prices of almost all the major sectors declined.
Mutual funds lost 1.33 per cent, general insurance 1.31 per cent, life insurance 1.21 per cent, non-banking financial institutions 1.17 per cent, telecom 0.89 per cent and pharmaceutical lost 0.62 on the day.
Banks and fuel and power stocks closed flat. Banks gained 0.19 per cent and Fuel and power gained 0.17 per cent.
National Bank topped the turnover leader with shares worth Tk 656.48 million changing hands. The other turnover leaders were Bextex, Southeast Bank, Bay Leasing, Pubali bank, AB Bank, United Airways and Beximco Ltd.
Bank Aisa was the highest gainer, posting a rise of 5.97 per cent, and the day's prominent loser was Uttara Bank Ltd.
Wednesday's agitation was the third one within a month. Earlier on December 8 last year, hundreds of angry investors took to the streets in the bustling financial district of Motijheel to protest an unprecedented 547-point drop in the premier bourse within an hour and a half of the start of trading and on 19 December, the index experienced the steepest ever 552 points single day fall.
Our Rajshahi correspondent adds; Agitated investors took out procession in the city, damaged furniture at the ICB brokerage house and held protest meeting. Trading at the ICB brokerage house remained suspended between 12noon to 2pm on Wednesday because of the trouble.
Release link:http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=122046&date=2011-01-06
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