Angry investors take to the streets again

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FE Report Hundreds of angry investors took to the streets in the city's commercial hub at Motijheel once again Tuesday to protest against an unprecedented share price fall and staged demonstrations, halting traffic movement for more than four hours. The agitated investors also swore by raising their hands to stay on the streets until normalcy was restored at the stock market. The benchmark General Index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DGEN), slipped 228.20 points or 4.67 per cent to close at 4,649.32 after four hours trading while turnover value declined to Tk 2.52 billion. In the last three consecutive sessions, the DGEN fell more than 559 points or 11.0 per cent. Almost all the issues traded on the day lost in prices as out of 248 issues traded, only eight advanced, 239 declined and one remained unchanged. The infuriated investors started demonstrations in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), halting traffic movement on the busy street at around 12 noon. About half an hour later, they brought out a procession and paraded towards the SEC. Hoverer, they were intercepted by police on their way to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and took position in front of the Bangladesh Bank. They sat and some of them lay down there and demonstrated for more than three hours from 1pm to 4pm. They also showed their shoes during demonstration. Aggrieved investors also set fire to wood, paper and discarded tyres on the streets of Motijheel and brought out procession. The investors shouted slogans against finance minister AMA Muhith, prime minister's finance adviser Mashiur Rahman, Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman and DSE president Shakil Rizvi for, what they said, their failure to stabilise the market and creating panic among the investors. The protestors said despite promises from the private banks and several announcements by the government for injecting fresh fund into the market the situation was worsening day by day. They also sought direct intervention of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to bring back stability in the stock market. The measures the central bank had taken to prop up the capital market in fact went against the market, said a demonstrator. However, there were no untoward incidents as a large number of police cordoned off the whole area and brought the situation under control. Earlier on Sunday and Monday, the downtrend had also triggered a similar street protest by investors. "Poor operating profit of some private commercial banks also deepened investors' frustration and may give them yet another reason for leaving the market," said a stock broker. Out of 30 listed banks at the DSE, 19 are in negative growth in third quarter report that did not match investors' long-standing expectations based on company records, he said. "Lack of confidence among the general investors, absence of institutional participation, and liquidity problem in recent days disappointed the investors which contributed to the sharp fall," commented another stock broker. The investors are under the grip of panic following a series of shocks as all the 'market stabilising measures' failed to stabilize the market, he added. Ahsanul Islam Tito, senior vice president of the DSE said: "The retail investors are more panicky and nervous following the continuous downtrend of the market and went to aggressive sell-off as they think the market may fall further." However, he said, it is not a wise decision for the investors to sell-off shares at the lower prices. A merchant banker, seeking anonymity, said big market players and gamblers might have a hand in the recent continuous market fall as the market behaved irrationally in the last two days. "The Securities and Exchange (SEC) Commission should investigate whether any vested quarter is involved in the share price fall and 'manipulation' to buy shares at a lower price," he said.